The Daniel Craig Forum

Matt Damon dismisses 'dated' Bond

Damon met fans at The Bourne Ultimatum's UK premiere


Hollywood star Matt Damon has dismissed James Bond as being stuck in the past.
The actor, who appears in the Bourne thrillers, said: "The Bond character will always be anchored in the 1960s and in the values of the 1960s."

The suave spy was "so anachronistic when you put it in the world we live in today", he said, but added that Bourne was no better or worse than Bond.

Damon was speaking in London, where The Bourne Ultimatum, the third film in the franchise, was having its UK premiere.

Hundreds of fans waited in the rain at the premiere in London's Leicester Square to see the actor, who plays CIA assassin Jason Bourne.

Famous faces who attended the screening included pop star Prince, Bourne's co-star Julia Stiles, actress Neve Campbell and model Helena Christensen.

Daniel Craig's first Bond film, Casino Royale, came out last year
"Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it, and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes," Damon told reporters.

"Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her."

He added that Bourne "doesn't have the support of gadgets, and he feels guilty for what he's done".

The first two Bourne outings - The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy - made more than $500m (£250m) at the worldwide box office.

The latest instalment went straight to the top of the North American box office chart.

Damon said he had not ruled out returning for a fourth film - provided that the British director Paul Greengrass also returned to the project.

Greengrass said: "The Bourne franchise is not about wearing Prada suits and looking at women coming out of the sea with bikinis on. It's about essence and truth, not frippery and surface."