Tag Archives: Tony Gilroy

‘Bourne Legacy’ Stars Brainstorm For Hypothetical Sequel

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Now that for the next chapter in the “Bourne” franchise via “The Bourne Legacy”, we can’t ruminate too long on how satisfying the action-packed experience was before fans start thinking about a possible next “Bourne” movie with new star Jeremy Renner as its anchor.

When MTV News caught up with Renner, writer/director Tony Gilroy and co-star Edward Norton recently, we asked them to tell us what the hypothetical future might hold for the characters.

First thing’s first, they’ll need to make sure Renner stays involved, according to Gilroy, as the Oscar-nominated actor was one of the main reasons the movie worked in the first place.

“We needed a really tremendous, righteous, pure, soulful actor and then we needed an athlete and then we needed an actor who really wasn’t formed in the public’s mind yet,” Gilroy said of Renner’s initial casting.

Luckily for Gilroy, his star hasn’t finished with the character yet and is happy that he doesn’t have to be involved in the initial sequel conversations.

“It’s a great character. There’s a lot left to explore there for me personally,” Renner said. “I have no idea where they’ll go with it. … I have no idea what’s going on, people are probably more informed than I am of the reality of me being in another movie.”

Renner’s co-star Edward Norton added that he thinks his character’s development won’t need any in-depth exploration in comparison to the film’s larger political themes.

“I don’t think we’re going to be doing a deep dive into the relationship world of Ric Byer,” said Norton. “I think we’re going to be finding out more about the pharmaceutical corporate conspiracies that we should all be worried about, but I don’t know, that’s Tony’s [decision].”

But Gilroy said his film-making focus centered on completing one movie before even thinking about plot lines for a sequel.

“We wanted to make something that was completely round, that you could watch having not seen the other films. We wanted to pay back people who’d paid attention,” Gilroy said . “I’ve seen some movies recently where they’re asking you to buy the next ticket on the way out the door. We didn’t want to do that. We didn’t want to be cheesy. We wanted to be in a place where there was a variety of places to go. We plowed a lot of fields here. There’s a lot of places to go moving forward.”

In contrast to the vague answers from the gentleman, leading lady Rachel Weisz was the only one to get specific with what she wanted addressed in a potential sequel: a happy and healthy romantic relationship between her character, Dr. Marta Shearing, and Renner’s Aaron Cross.

“I think she and Aaron should have lots of babies,” Weisz said with a laugh.

What would you want to happen in another “Bourne” film? Drop your theories in the comments!

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bourne Legacy.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Five Reasons To See ‘The Bourne Legacy’

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There was never just one. Sure, Alex Cross is no Jason Bourne, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t one hell of a government operative nonetheless.

An expansion on author Robert Ludlum‘s world of secrets and spies, “The Bourne Legacy” is set concurrently with the events of the 2007 Matt Damon-starring “Bourne Ultimatum” and features Jeremy Renner as an Outcome agent who’s overstayed his welcome on Earth — at least according to his employers — so he runs for his life with the beautiful Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) on his arm.

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy (who also wrote the screenplay for the first three “Bourne” films), the actioner packs a similar punch to the original trilogy: all of the dirty bureaucrats, gritty fight sequences and splashy car chases are here, yet it’s clear the franchise is operating under a whole new regime.

Here are five reasons to see “The Bourne Legacy,” now in theaters:

Bourne Again
If 2007′s “Bourne Ultimatum” left you with any burning questions, it’s likely “Bourne Legacy” will provide at least a few answers. As mentioned above, the events of “Bourne Legacy” pick up in the middle of “Bourne Ultimatum,” following through its conclusion and continuing to build and expand upon the threequel’s world, while firmly standing on its own merits.

“It completely does its own thing,” Weisz told MTV News of “Bourne Legacy.” “It introduces new characters, but it lifts the curtain on the first three films. It sort of says, ‘If you think you know who was in charge, you were wrong. This is who is really in charge.’ [You see] the men behind the curtain pulling the puppet strings.”

Jeremy Renner’s A New Sort Of Agent
Damon was always all business as Jason Bourne — and we liked it. But as Alex Cross, Renner brings the slightest touch of levity and warmth to his on-the-run agent, proving he’s more man than machine. And you know what? We liked that too.

Steady Eddie
If there was a chief gripe about “The Bourne Ultimatum,” it had to be the film’s close-cropped, often shaky fight sequences, which left at least a few moviegoers feeling queasy. Expect less of that herky-jerky style under Gilroy’s direction.

“I really enjoyed the hand-to-hand [fight sequences], the stuff you cannot fake, the stuff that cameras can’t do any trickery to make look better or worse,” Renner recalled of the shoot. “So that’s where I put a lot of time spent as well, into the hand-to-hand stuff.”

Hollywood’s Next Big Talent?
The “Bourne” movies have something of a legacy of propelling their little-known assassins into box-office staples. As my colleague Brian Phares pointed out, both Clive Owen and Karl Urban took turns as sharp-shooters before hitting it big in future films. Will “Legacy” hit man Louis Ozawa Changchien break out in a similar fashion? Only time will tell, but wouldn’t it be nice to say you knew him when?

Nostalgic Nuggets
If you really find yourself missing the original “Bourne” trilogy, take solace in the visual and aural callbacks to the originals, which may just inspire a complete re-watch of Bourne’s battle for his identity.

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bourne Legacy.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

‘The Bourne Legacy’: The Reviews Are In!

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Instead of moving the “Bourne” series forward, the creators of the fourth film, “The Bourne Legacy,” have taken a step sideways to see what else was going on as Matt Damon‘s amnesiac secret agent hopped all over the globe.

This time, Jeremy Renner is in the lead role, and while he has all his memory intact, he’s got some mental problems of his own that he needs to take care of.

The majority of critics have responded positively to this new direction for the series, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a review that doesn’t score “The Bourne Legacy” as falling just short of its predecessors.

The Story
“Renner stars as Aaron Cross, who’s alone in the wilds of Alaska on a training exercise at the film’s start. But he finds he’s the target of a legitimate threat when the supersecret government spy program he’s a part of hastily gets shut down with the exposure of Jason Bourne. Turns out, Bourne was not the only person given a whole new identity — he was one of many, and the new models are even bigger-better-faster-stronger thanks to a combination of little blue and green pills. His handlers, including Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Donna Murphy, may have done too good a job. Cross is hard to kill, and [Tony] Gilroy cuts back and forth between the spy’s resourceful, globe-trotting efforts to stay alive and the shadowy surveillance rooms full of glowing monitors that illuminate his hunters’ growing frustration.” — Christy Lemire, AP

The Script
“Narratively it’s a pretzel, half-baked. The first hour makes a full investment in Cross’ isolated existence difficult, because Gilroy risks a considerable amount of what’s-happening-exactly? vexation. He’s an interesting writer, no question: His caper film ‘Duplicity,’ which I enjoyed, tanked largely because of its looping flashbacks and nutty obfuscations, starting with the brawl on the tarmac between two supporting players. Even Gilroy’s well-regarded script for ‘Michael Clayton’ was fancier structurally than needed. ‘The Bourne Legacy’ is Gilroy’s revenge; it’s all corkscrews, and the script periodically stops dead to explain itself, or deliver the dreaded expositional back story, before cranking up the action again.” — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Jeremy Renner
“Cross is played by Jeremy Renner with the kind of focus and detached courage he showed in ‘The Hurt Locker.’ Because he isn’t referred to by name for a long time, and because everybody keeps saying Bourne is still ‘out there,’ and because I had not seen the trailer, I wondered for a while if perhaps Renner was now playing Bourne, but the film finally, mercifully, produces a Wanted poster showing Matt Damon, which clears that up.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The Supporting Cast
“For her part, [Rachel] Weisz has a few good scenes to play, especially upon surviving the lab massacre and when facing down her inquisitors. The bad guys, from Norton on down, are terse, self-serving and ruthless ‘just do it’ types.” — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

The Final Word
“Like any story with Bourne in the title, this one scampers around the globe, with a big chunk of well-crafted showdown action set in teeming Manila. Gilroy, who as a screenwriter has shaped the movie saga from the beginning, trades the wired rhythms established in the past two episodes by Paul Greengrass for something more realistic and closer to the ground. The change is refreshing. Jason Bourne’s legacy is in good hands.” — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bourne Legacy.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Jeremy Renner Is Just Happy He Didn’t Hurt Himself On ‘Bourne Legacy’

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One of the action centerpieces from “The Bourne Legacy” was also featured in many of the trailers. In it, stars Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz tear through downtown Manila on a motorcycle and eventually—wait for it—grind down a railing on it.

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When MTV News sat down with Renner and director Tony Gilroy, they shared their experiences making the 45-minute action sequence.

“I’m happy that I didn’t get injured,” Renner said. “I’m pretty proud of that, because I did a lot of work to not get injured.”

Gilroy explained that the nature of the sequence didn’t allow for them to use many of the tricks from modern action movies. “The trick with the motorcycle chase and the whole chase is it’s taking place in Manila, on the streets in real time in a real environment,” Gilroy said. “You’re not on a set, you’re not anyplace else, you can’t hide. You don’t control anything, so it’s like the fifth dimension of difficulty on there, and we were there for months shooting all that on the streets. To make that month happen, you have some people that are [on location] six and seven months beforehand getting stuff ready, building rigs, doing stuff, clearing permits. … It’s a military kind of operation.”

Renner favored the more hands-on aspects of the action. “Outside of that, I really enjoyed the hand-to-hand [fight sequences], the stuff you cannot fake, the stuff that cameras can’t do any trickery to make look better or worse,” he said. “So that’s where I put a lot of time spent as well, into the hand-to-hand stuff. It’s a great way to sort of work out and not have to work out.”

Do you plan on seeing “The Bourne Legacy” this weekend? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

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‘Bourne Legacy’ Exists In ‘Parallel’ World To First Films

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For those who might be feeling skeptical about the five-year gap between the release of “The Bourne Ultimatum” and the new installment/revamp “The Bourne Legacy,” rest assured that the filmmakers have creatively maneuvered around the issue by setting the story during the timeline established in 2007′s “Ultimatum.”

But just because the time frames are similar doesn’t mean the movies are the same. When MTV News caught up with the “Legacy” cast and director Tony Gilroy recently, we asked them to reveal how the film fits into the “Bourne” canon while still standing on its own as a separate story.

“It completely does its own thing,” Rachel Weisz said. “It introduces new characters, but it lifts the curtain on the first three films. It sort of says, ‘If you think you know who was in charge, you were wrong. This is who is really in charge.’ [You see] the men behind the curtain pulling the puppet strings.”

“It pulls right out of the tail end of the last one,” added Edward Norton, who plays government “program” supervisor Eric Byer. “It continues to widen its investigation of the subterranean world and take you into parallel corridors of it in a way that feels really real. It’s very easy at the beginning of this to believe the events of those films that we’ve already seen are sort of now reverberating and having to be dealt with.”

Because of the parallel storylines, a lot of fans have wondered how original star Matt Damon might fit into the new film (or not), which is a subject Gilroy assured us was only ever addressed by fans and journalists, not via actual meetings Gilroy had with Damon.

“Those conversations only happen in this room. There’s been absolutely zero real conversation about any of that,” Gilroy said. “Everything we get comes from speculation from press and from the blogosphere. We’re not that organized.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bourne Legacy.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

‘Bourne Legacy’ Fight Scenes Free Of Camera ‘Trickery’

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If there is one thing you’re guaranteed to see in “The Bourne Legacy,” it’s action. Action, action and more action.

In keeping consistent with “Bourne” franchise, the latest installment follows a rogue government-trained assassin (Jeremy Renner) who has to fight — a lot — against the agency that hired him in order to survive.

As is to be expected, there are a slew of impressive fight sequences in the film, one in particular that involves a motorcycle chase through the crowded streets of Manila and lasts around 45 minutes. When MTV News caught up with the man at the center of the action, Renner, and writer/director Tony Gilroy recently, we asked them to walk us through the technicalities involved in the epic fight sequences.

“The trick with the motorcycle chase and the whole chase is it’s taking place in Manila, on the streets in real time in a real environment,” Gilroy said. “You’re not on a set, you’re not anyplace else, you can’t hide. You don’t control anything, so it’s like the fifth dimension of difficulty on there, and we were there for months shooting all that on the streets. To make that month happen, you have some people that are [on location] six and seven months beforehand getting stuff ready, building rigs, doing stuff, clearing permits. … It’s a military kind of operation.”

The film’s star, who has become quite the action pro thanks to his roles in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and “The Avengers,” said his greatest achievement in the film is that he came away from filming without any major injuries.

“I’m happy that I didn’t get injured. I’m pretty proud of that, ’cause I did a lot of work to not get injured,” Renner said. “Outside of that, I really enjoyed the hand-to-hand [fight sequences], the stuff you cannot fake, the stuff that cameras can’t do any trickery to make look better or worse. So that’s where I put a lot of time spent as well, into the hand-to-hand stuff. It’s a great way to sort of work out and not have to work out.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bourne Legacy.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

‘Bourne Legacy’ Stars Learn The Art Of Keeping Secrets

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In this fast-paced, over-connected, news-is-now era we’re living in, it’s a wonder when plot secrets stay under wraps until the film is released. On one hand, it’s good for business when people are interested in and obsess over your upcoming movie, but on the other, it’s bad when spoilers ruin well-intentioned and well-placed surprises.

When MTV News caught up with the cast and writer/director of this week’s anticipated action/thriller “The Bourne Legacy,” we asked them to describe the level of secrecy involved in protecting the new film, as well as the measures that were taken to avoid any plot leaks. As it turned out, everyone involved participated in a bit of stealth secret-keeping, especially leading man Jeremy Renner, who is almost a spoiler-proofing pro at this point, given his involvement in several top-secret blockbusters like “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and “The Avengers.”

” ‘The Avengers’ was pretty intense. This one was small in a lot of ways,” Renner said, comparing his two big movies this year. “We were in a studio here [in Los Angeles] and out in the middle of nowhere, out in the Rockies. It wasn’t until we were shooting in Manila and surrounded by thousands and thousands of people being spectators that you had to be protective, but not nearly as much as with ‘Avengers.’ I guess it was more so the script and trying to keep that under wraps and protect the franchise.”

“They came and gave me the script, and Tony’s assistant waited for me to finish it outside my room,” added co-star Rachel Weisz. “It’s as paranoid as the movie is. Becoming a part of them is very secretive.”

Writer/director Tony Gilroy found the secret-keeping ironic at first — until it required him to write almost an entire other movie.

“You go through your whole [career] as a writer, and all you want is for people to read your script. ‘Please read my script, please read my script!’ And then I end up on this movie after 30 years, and no one is allowed to read the script,” Gilroy recalled with a chuckle. “It’s in a safe that the department heads have to come and check out. It’s really crazy. The weirdest thing, I had to write fake scenes for actors to audition. I ended up almost having to write a parallel script, much more than I ever thought, lots of different scenes, so we could have people come in and audition and not blow the movie. That’s another new odd facet of mega-moviemaking.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bourne Legacy.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Jeremy Renner Shows Off In First ‘Bourne Legacy’ Clip

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64fb3 Renner Bourne Jeremy Renner Shows Off In First Bourne Legacy Clip

We’re not sure if you’ve heard by now, but there was never just one.

Thus far, the ad campaign for “The Bourne Legacy” has been shouting “Matt Damon? Never heard of the guy” throughout each trailer and poster, but a new clip (via IGN) from the upcoming action sequel makes us think that they may be on to something.

Check out the first clip from “The Bourne Legacy” after the jump!

It’s perfectly clear from the clip that Jeremy Renner‘s Aaron Cross can hold his own in the world of amnesiac superspies. He’s proficient in special Bourne skills like running away from police, escaping confided buildings, and jump from roof to roof.

But as this is a new star, Cross should have a unique talent. Behold the wall sliding ability!

Consider us optimistically curious about “The Bourne Legacy.” The series has a flawless record with scripts from Tony Gilroy, so it’s really just up to Renner to convince us there really was never just one.

What did you think of the first clip from “The Bourne Legacy”? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

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Matt Damon On Rejoining ‘Bourne’: ‘It’s All About The Script’

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fb44f bourne Matt Damon On Rejoining Bourne: Its All About The Script

Matt Damon might have been at Comic-Con to promote “Elysium,” but he couldn’t seem to get away from one major shadow from his past. The actor isn’t starring in “The Bourne Legacy,” though recently we found out that there might be room for him to return to the franchise that he made a hit. Now all people want to know is if he’d be interested in doing that.

“Look, I’ve been interested in doing another one for five years,” Damon told Crave Online. “We just can’t figure out the script. I’m up for it, but again it’s all about the script, It’s got to be a good one.”

That reiterates what he’s said in the past, and Damon went on to make similar statements to ComingSoon.net.

“I really want to do another one and I think Paul Greengrass does too,” he said, “But I think it’s the same question we’ve had after each one. If we really feel we can do it and that it will deserve to live with the other three that we did. If we can make one where we go into it feeling it can be even better than those, and it ends up being in that same ballpark, then we should do it. But If we can’t, then we really should leave it alone.”

E! Online also spoke to Damon about the project, and he gave them an answer from a different angle. “The Bourne Legacy” has a new star (Jeremy Renner) and a new director (Tony Gilroy, who wrote the first three), so Damon thinks there might not be room for him to return.

“I think the movie will be really good,” Damon said of “The Bourne Legacy.” “Tony [Gilroy] is really smart, he’s a really good writer and a really good director and I’m sure he made a good movie. The question will be if they can franchise that movie, because if they can, then they’ll be done with me. They’ll just keep making those.”

Somehow we doubt that anyone at Universal would turn down the opportunity to have a “Bourne” film team up Renner and Damon, but he does make a valid point. Even though producer Frank Marshall has said it’s his dream to see the two of them onscreen together, we might need to wait several more years before that happens.

Would you want to see Damon return to the “Bourne” franchise? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!

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‘Bourne Legacy’ Director Offers Up Exclusive Details — And A Photo!

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After seeing the first trailer, you might have thought “The Bourne Legacy” would be just another “spy with amnesia” movie. Director and co-writer Tony Gilroy wants you to know that you’re very, very wrong.

Gilroy has worked on the screenplays for the series since “The Bourne Identity” with Matt Damon, but for this new leg of the series, Gilroy knew they had to “swing away” if they wanted to bring the franchise back.

For Summer Movie Preview Week, MTV News spoke with Gilroy about his first time directing a “Bourne” movie, working with Jeremy Renner and how things are different this time around.

MTV News: Where did you start conceptually when it came to continuing the series?

Tony Gilroy: I guess when they finished three, a lot of people spent a lot of time thinking about how and where to continue. I wasn’t a part of any of those conversations. When that ran out of road, everybody had sort of moved on. After that, I was approached because they were searching for some way of continuing something. I took a very casual meeting, long after everything had stopped and Matt [Damon] and Paul [Greengrass] had gone. There were a bunch of wacky ideas that they were trying, none of which were really appealing. I said, “I don’t know how I can help you, but it seems like you need a really big idea. You’re really going to need to swing away if you’re going to do something else, and I’m not sure if anybody’s going to want to do that.” I went off and did think about it a little bit and came back at them with something very ambitious and unusual. That caught some traction, and we started having conversations about it. We picked it up from there.

MTV News: Was there a sense that you needed to balance the old with the new?

Gilroy: I was there at the very, very beginning. It’s no secret that we never really had anything to do with the book. I spent a lot of time building up the mythology over the last 13 years. It wasn’t a preservation job, but it was very important to me. One of the things that was really important to me was that anything moving forward not only preserve what happened in the past, but make it better. There was never anything that was cheesy or cynical about “Bourne.” The one thing that was always true was that it had a soulful integrity to it, really embodied by Matt [Damon] in a personal way. You couldn’t violate what had happened in the past.

MTV News: How present are the events from the first three movies in “The Bourne Legacy”?

Gilroy: Everything that happened before was not a dream. Everything that happened was completely real, but you thought you knew what was going on. You thought you were seeing the world, and this movie is telling you that there’s a much larger world, a much larger conspiracy beyond this. The events of the other three films are incredibly present, but they’re not really in this very much. What happens in “Ultimatum” is really the spark that’s blowing open the door to this movie because the Jason Bourne story is exploding out into the public. Being impossible to conceal any further is causing problems for this much larger conspiracy. “Ultimatum” plays in the background of the very beginning of this film.

MTV News: We see the Jeremy Renner character enter the program in the trailer, something we didn’t see until the third movie for Jason Bourne. Is this a very structurally different movie?

Gilroy: Very much. Oh my God, yeah, for a whole bunch of reasons. One is that everybody in the world ripped us off. It’s been done to death at this point. It’s on TV three nights a week, much less Bond and everything else. The worst thing that could have been done would be to just slavishly follow some cookie-cutter pattern of visual style and storytelling style. It’s a bigger movie in the terms of the journey of it and the scale of it and the amount of stories in it and where it’s going. The great thing about Jason Bourne was that he was claustrophobically stuck down and trying to figure out this moral question. The whole second film is about an apology. It’s really about this guy trying to morally come to grips with the conflict between who he thinks he is and what he’s done. This character in this film has no moral conflict whatsoever. Jeremy Renner‘s character has the reverse of amnesia. He knows exactly where he’s come from. He knows exactly what the stakes are if he doesn’t achieve his journey. It’s a very different tone, yet it will be very rewarding to people. You should be able to see the movie and not see any of them before. It’s been kind of ironic. The people that were having the most trouble getting their heads around the fact that we were doing this are actually the people who I think will ultimately be the most happy about what we’re doing. It has a lot of payback for the true fans.

MTV News: Jeremy Renner has quickly become an action superstar. What was it like having a talent like that leading this new story?

Gilroy: He’s a freak. Everybody knows what a great actor he is. He’s an all-in actor, just world-class. You can always double for somebody. You can always back off the action that you’re going to do. There have been a lot of great action stars who can’t run across the street. I was made aware as we were starting to get involved and then as we started pre-production [that] he is a physical freak. It is unbelievable. There are a couple guys out there that are like that, but they are very few and far between. He moves. He fights. He rides. He swims. He jumps, better than the stunt people. There are a couple people out there that you hear are like that. I hear Channing Tatum is a mindblower when it comes to learning stunts. You know Tom Cruise does all his stunts. Jeremy is right there. It would be hard to put someone who has a really clear identity with the audience in a part that wants to be that iconic. He’s sort of in the perfect place, monster chops, monster experience. To get someone who can kick ass every day is kind of a huge surprise.

It’s Summer Movie Preview Week, and MTV News will be bringing you exclusive interviews, clips and photos for the most anticipated summer movies. Get ready to gorge on inside looks at “The Avengers,” Robert Pattinson’s “Bel Ami,” Kristen Stewart’s “Snow White,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and more!

f7652 spotted Bourne Legacy Director Offers Up Exclusive Details And A Photo!