I GET KNOCKED DOWN [15:08:07] MATT DAMON GETS BACK UP AGAIN I Get Knocked Down Matt Damon Gets back up again Fresh from being named Hollywood's most profitable star, Matt Damon returns to the big screen with the third - and best - installment in the Jason Bourne trilogy, 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. Just what is it about Damon that makes him so bankable? “Ultimately, my only job is to be believable. That's the job description. And if I'm not believable, if I ever take you guys out of a movie for a minute, then I'm not doing my job. I'm failing at my job. So I just brainstorm ways to be more believable, and one of them with this role was to find ways to be in the middle of this stuff as much as I can. Obviously, for the really dangerous stuff, they're going to use stunt people, but I do what I can.” Getting right “in the middle of this stuff” must have been a scary proposition, given the brutal nature of the film's fight scenes, but Damon takes the knocks in stride. “For the first movie, the director said he wanted the character to walk like a boxer. So I started boxing in 2000, and I did a lot of that to get ready for this movie. In these fight scenes, because we're really going pretty fast in close quarters, there's always little bumps and bruises that you get, but in terms of actually getting punched? I've been punched in these fights and I've punched guys, too, but you're kind of pulling your punches a little bit. You're not really hitting with the intent to hurt somebody, so it doesn't really hurt. I got much bigger knocks from my brother growing up.” In fact, when it comes to brawling, there's only one man that Damon fears. “I don't think I could take Wolverine. There are a lot of people I could take, but I don't think I could take Wolverine. Aren't his bones made of adamantium or something like that? Plus, have you ever seen me stand next to Hugh Jackman? It looks like we're brothers, but one of us was left in the oven longer. He's about six inches taller than me.” Of course, with the latest film doing big business stateside and attracting some of the best reviews of Damon's Oscar winning career, the question must be asked: Has Bourne delivered his final Ultimatum? “I'm sure I'm going to be tempted, no matter what I want. General Electric owns Universal, and if GE makes a refrigerator that everyone wants, they make more of 'em … But it's also really hard to leave on top, and to make three movies that are a piece and that fit as a trilogy, and are all good. It's really hard to do, and that's why it doesn't get done very often. It would have to be a really, really good script, and Paul (Greengrass) would have to be directing it; there would be a lot of things that would have to happen. I would never say never, just because, you know, you never know, but I'd say it's unlikely.” Rohan Williams 'The Bourne Ultimatum' is opens nationally on August 30. back to top ^

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