Making a movie might seem like a fun fantasy most of the time, but occasionally those well-choreographed action scenes have tragic outcomes. Many actors have been bumped and even received actually punched in the name of the movies. One such film was the 2004 action-thriller, The Bourne Supremacy, starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.
The second film in the critically acclaimed Bourne movie series, The Bourne Supremacy, calls for a lot of physicality from the lead actor. Thus, in order to create breathtaking action sequences that would captivate audiences everywhere, Damon thought it was essential to give moviegoers a real experience.
Well, it is difficult to imagine that the movie was released more than ten years ago. Positive reviews and commercial success resulted in a $290 million profit on a $75 million budget.
When Matt Damon Actually Knocked Out A Fellow Actor
The Jason Bourne films might initially seem very similar to any other action franchise where a rogue hero faces off against a plethora of foes and always wins. However, the world of Jason Bourne has a distinct and compelling quality due to the way the action is presented.
The Jason Bourne series’ action scenes were meticulously choreographed to be as up-close and authentic as possible, employing actors in place of stuntmen to the extent that the studio would permit. While this strategy provided audiences with some breathtakingly intense action sequences, it also led to one of the actors actually being knocked out by Matt Damon.
In one of the scenes from 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy, Damon’s character Jason Bourne and Tim Griffin’s John Nevins got into a fight physically.
Director, Paul Greengrass once discussed how the fight scene got so intense that one errant punch from Damon struck Griffin in the face and instantly knocked him out.
Meanwhile, Griffin asked whether the all-too-realistic moment had been properly captured on camera after regaining consciousness, according to Greengrass. To quote the 67-year-old filmmaker:
“When he [Tim Griffin] came around, he said, ‘Did you get it on camera?’ I thought he’d broken his nose or something because it was a hell of a whack, but it works. Made the scene look real.”
The Most Challenging Stunt in Bourne Series
For The Bourne Identity (2002), Matt Damon had to do a lot more than just flex his acting muscles once he decided to play an assassin. The actor had to use his actual muscles in the movie’s many chase and action scenes. He was asked to join a group of actors who performed their own stunts due to the street-level approach to filmmaking, used by director, Doug Liman.
The scene where Jason Bourne was cornered by the police at the bank is particularly tense. In an effort to get away, he must descend several stories of the bank building using only his hands and feet. He was inches from losing his footing and falling to his death.
It was even equally difficult for the film crew to stage the scene where Bourne climbs down the building.
Instead of having a stunt double perform the entire stunt, The Martian star filmed a large portion of it himself to increase the realism of the scene.
According to stunt and fight coordinator, Nick Powell:
“The challenge of the sequence was to make it look completely natural for Bourne to climb down the sheer wall of this building like a mosquito. Matt was extraordinary, and climbed down the last 30 feet of the building on his own.”
Meanwhile, you can watch The Bourne Supremacy, which is streaming on FuboTV, and Peacock Premium.
Source- Looper
