The Evolution of Matt Damon and 'Jason Bourne'
See Damon's growth on and off screen over the past 15 years.
— -- intro: Today, the name Matt Damon is synonymous with Jason Bourne.
The Oscar-winner has been playing the amnesiac spy for almost 15 years now and is back in his fourth turn as "Bourne" to the delight of fans worldwide. You can literally see Damon progress from an early 30's young actor taking on his first big action role in 2002's "Identity" to the 45-year-old he is now, having been married for a decade and the father of four.
So, let's take a look back and see Damon's evolution on and off the set of this thrilling saga.
quicklist: 1title: "Bourne Identity" - 2002
text: On the heels of hits like "Good Will Hunting" and "Ocean's Eleven," Damon took a chance and a turn as Bourne. The film was a huge hit and Damon still had the baby face here to go along with his surprising action skills. The movie was critically acclaimed and earned more than $120 million domestically. It was the beginning of a stellar action career in addition to his obvious drama chops.
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quicklist: 2title: Matt Damon 2002text: Damon wasn't a family man yet, and was keenly focused on his career. He was a rising star and took his roles very seriously.
"My favorite part is the time before we start shooting. I love shooting, when the character is interesting and the script is interesting, but the research beforehand is really fun. The whole process makes me anxious and restless, and I have trouble sleeping, just trying to figure out the character," he told the A.V. Club that year.
He added about his preparation for "Identity," "was all this martial arts and stuff," he said, according to A.V. Club. "I figured because the guy has amnesia for most of the movie and doesn't know who he is, the only thing I had to fall back on was instinct. I figured his physical bearing would be the same as it was before he lost his memory. So I did all the things that he would have done for four or five months. I took all these boxing classes on top of the martial arts."
He even added in the interview that a $60 million budget "was huge for me." Things would only go up from there.
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quicklist: 3title: 'Bourne Supremacy" - 2004text: With his follow-up to "Identity," Damon had another hit on his hands that grossed near $300 million worldwide. Damon did other projects like "Stuck on You" in 2003 and "Ocean's Twelve" the next year, but "Bourne" was becoming HIS franchise. He recently told ABC News' "Popcorn with Peter Travers" that the ending to "Supremacy" is one of his favorites, where the anti-hero arrives at the home of the daughter, whose father Bourne killed years earlier, with the intention of making amends.
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quicklist: 4title: Matt Damon - 2004text: In 2004, Damon was still celebrating films with his best friend Ben Affleck, but another face popped up on the scene, Luciana Barroso, who he would marry the next year. The met in 2003 on the set of "Stuck on You" and have been together basically ever since.
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quicklist: 5title: 'Bourne Ultimatum" - 2007text: At 37, Damon looked to close the door on Bourne in "Ultimatum" with an epic ending to a trilogy five years in the making. After exposing the CIA and the bad apples running the show, the company was ruined and Bourne had him memory back.
"Ultimatum" won Oscars and grossed almost double the original film half a decade earlier. It seemed time to move on.
"The story of this guy’s search for his identity is over, because he’s got all the answers, so there’s no way we can trot out the same character," he told Collider in 2007.
But he didn't count it out.
"I love the character, and if Paul Greengrass calls me in ten years and says, ‘Now we can do it, because it’s been ten years and I have a way to bring him back,’ then there’s a world in which I can go, ‘Yeah, absolutely,'" he added.
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quicklist: 6title: Matt Damon - 2007text: In 2007, Damon had just welcomed his first daughter Isabella the year before and would have Gia with his wife the year after. He's also step-father to Luciana's daughter Alexia, born in 1998. Stella would come years later.
Damon seemed to take to fatherhood in the same way, he took to acting. He also lives a pretty, quiet life with his girls.
"I attribute a lot of it to luck," Damon told USA Today last year about keeping his life out of the spotlight. "[Photographers] shoot me every day coming out of the gym... [but a] married guy with kids? It's not that exciting."
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quicklist: 7title: 'Jason Bourne' - 2016text: When speaking to Travers on "Popcorn," Damon said he "suffered" to get back into shape at 45 years old for his latest "Bourne."
But the veteran actor was able to do it, one year after receiving an Oscar nod for "The Martian." Damon is currently one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood and in "Jason Bourne," you get the feeling everything has come full circle for the actor 15 years later. You get the feeling this series now feels fresh to him once again.
"When we sat down and looked at the world and how much it had changed," he said, since 2007. "It was alarming ... this is actually a completely different world we are living in ... and there's enough to make a movie about it."
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quicklist: 8title: Matt Damon - 2016text: He basically still looks the same since 2002, but Damon's life is completely different and very fulfilled. He's married, has his four daughters and couldn't be happier.
"My dad called me a few years ago," he told Travers this week. "'Everybody thinks you are a big deal when you are out in the world and when you come home, you run nothing!" Damon's father joked about being surrounded by his beloved ladies.
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