Yes folks, there was indeed a time when people considered Matt Damon—a now-enduring and endearing actor of his generation—a lightweight. While calling him a “Streisand” (whatever that even meant) may have been a little far, many of us in the late nineties and early 2000s saw him as a pretty boy, and few thought he’d stand the test of time as a superstar. There’s a fine line between actors who endure—like Leonardo DiCaprio or Tom Cruise—and stars who fizzle out. At the time, no one knew which side of the coin Damon would land on.
But the release of The Bourne Identity changed everything. Not only did it give him an iconic role, it redefined him in a quality blockbuster that permanently established him as one of the greats. Despite its eventual classic status, the movie endured a notoriously troubled production, plagued by reshoots, poor test screenings, and an opening weekend that had many thinking it would flop. Here’s WTF Happened to The Bourne Identity.
Matt Damon’s Pre-Bourne Struggles
A Breakout… Followed by a Cold Streak
Flash back to 1997—an amazing year for Matt Damon. While most remember it as the year of Good Will Hunting, that was actually the less prestigious of two major projects he had lined up. His supporting role in Courage Under Fire put him on the Hollywood fast track, after being mostly known as the anti-Semitic prep who bullied Brendan Fraser in School Ties. Damon famously underwent a starvation diet to lose sixty pounds, impressing co-star Denzel Washington so much that Washington felt he needed to “up his game” not to be overshadowed.
That heat got Damon cast in The Rainmaker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Many expected it to be his A Time to Killmoment—but the film underperformed. Still, Damon’s momentum helped Miramax greenlight Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. Two weeks after The Rainmaker came out, Good Will Hunting hit theaters, grossed over $200M on a $10M budget, and earned Damon and Affleck the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.
Then Came the Setbacks
Despite his status as Hollywood’s hottest new star, Damon’s follow-up films (aside from two exceptions) bombed:
Rounders (1998) came and went quietly, despite later becoming a cult classic (so much so that it might get a sequel)
The Legend of Bagger Vance was Oscar bait that became a punchline.
Titan A.E. flopped.
All the Pretty Horses was butchered in post and remains one of the great “lost films.”
Many actors never recover from this kind of streak.
Two Important Exceptions
Saving Private Ryan gave him a prestige boost (even though he appears the least among the major cast).
The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which he played a gay psychopath, was a hit but controversial at the time—yes, playing a gay character in 1999 was a stigma. The “Streisand” quote in 40-Year-Old Virgin mocked exactly that outdated attitude. Still, studios were nervous enough about Damon’s image that in Ocean’s Eleven, despite being thirty, he was still cast as “the kid.”
The Unlikely Casting of Jason Bourne
A Ludlum Adaptation No One Thought Would Work
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity was long considered unfilmable. Sam Peckinpah tried with The Osterman Weekend. Burt Reynolds once considered starring. A miniseries with Richard Chamberlain happened, but never spawned more.
Then Doug Liman—fresh off Swingers and Go—pushed to adapt it. Universal saw potential in giving an indie filmmaker a shot at a spy franchise.
The key stroke of genius: hiring Tony Gilroy (yes, Andor’s Tony Gilroy) to rewrite the story from the ground up. He kept only the premise—amnesiac assassin. The Carlos the Jackal subplot was scrapped.
Damon Was NOT the First Choice
Universal considered more physically imposing actors:
Russell Crowe
Brad Pitt (who chose Spy Game instead)
Knowing audiences would doubt him, Damon trained intensely in weapons and martial arts for three months. His visceral fight with Castel became the moment he was officially taken seriously as a movie star.
A Production Filled With Chaos
Studio vs. Doug Liman: Two Different Movies
The studio wanted a Tony Scott-style slick action movie. Liman wanted a gritty 70s paranoia thriller.
Major conflicts included:
Studio rewrites to “amp up the action” (Damon threatened to quit).
Liman insisting on shooting in Paris without iconic landmarks.
Disagreements over the raw, handheld action aesthetic.
The famous farmhouse showdown almost getting cut until producer Frank Marshall intervened.
Endless Reshoots & Post-9/11 Changes
Reshoots were so extensive that the release moved from Christmas 2001 to summer 2002—normally a bad sign. Post-9/11 sensibilities forced them to remove exploding buildings. The original score by Carter Burwell was rejected in favor of John Powell’s now-classic soundtrack.
Things went so badly that Liman wasn’t invited back for the sequel—enter Paul Greengrass.
Release, Reception & the Surprising Turnaround
A Slow Start… Then the Sleeper Hit of 2002
Universal braced for failure. Reviews surprised them by being very positive. The film opened with:
$27 million
Beaten by Scooby-Doo
Behind Affleck’s The Sum of All Fears
But then word of mouth kicked in. While competing films plummeted week to week, The Bourne Identity kept climbing. It ended at $121 million domestic—enough to greenlight a sequel immediately.
And then came the DVD era.
The DVD Phenomenon
The Bourne Identity became a massive home video hit—40-Year-Old Virgin even jokes about how every tech shop used it as a demo disc. The apartment fight and the Paul Oakenfold-backed car chase became instant classics.
The Legacy of Bourne
The Most Influential Spy Since Bond
The Bourne films changed action cinema. “Bourne-style” thrillers dominated the 2000s. Even Damon’s buddy Ben Affleck starred in his own amnesiac-spy movie (Paycheck).
Most importantly, Bourne transformed Matt Damon’s image:
From “pretty boy” to legit action star
From youthful actor to mature leading man
From uncertain young talent to someone whose fame would grow with age
It was his Top Gun moment—an identity-defining role that permanently elevated him.
And over twenty years later, people still talk about bringing Damon back for another Bourne movie.
Not bad for a film the studio thought would tank, right?
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