Special Coverage Pop Culture Classics (The EW 1000)Sound BitesSummer TVBox Office Game
Page 2 of 2
ludlam_l
LIMAN WITH LUDLUM ''It had been almost 20 years since a novel of his had been made into a movie, 20 years since Hollywood came knocking''

I imagined a CIA not all-powerful and all-knowing from the movies, but one inspired by the CIA I had come to know through my father [Arthur Liman, a prominent attorney who served as chief counsel for the Senate Iran-Contra hearings]. I based Chris Cooper's and Brian Cox's characters on Oliver North and John Poindexter, respectively, who in real life did things far more outrageous than the characters they inspired. Finally, Julia Stiles' character was based on a woman I met when I lived in Paris years earlier who was receiving free rent from what we presumed was the CIA in exchange for leaving her apartment once a month for it to be used for God knows what.

I land Matt Damon, who like me had gotten his big break from Miramax. Matt quickly becomes my ally and together we fight to make a thoughtful action movie in an inflexible system. I can count on Matt during some of the darkest hours of production to keep me on course.

I develop an approach that will involve traveling the globe to shoot in the real locations, rather than faking them in Canada. It is my first big battle with the studio. I win. Handheld camera work, a style I developed on Swingers and Go, becomes a necessity on Bourne. As I watch the dailies of my chasing Matt Damon through uncontrolled locations, what was born of necessity emerges as style.

Shortly after filming begins in Paris, Matt Damon has two big movies open and bomb. Matt tells me his career is now fully riding on this movie — three strikes and he is out. Worse, the director of one of those movies has literally been hospitalized, a casualty of his creative battles with his studio. I have barely started shooting and I can see the most dangerous part of this journey is yet to come.

To be continued...

Doug Liman has directed Swingers, Go, The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the upcoming Jumper, due out in February '08.


Posted Aug 06, 2007 | Order Article Reprints
Page 2 of 2