With filming due to get underway later this week in Rome, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Paul Greengrass’ Bourne 5 has found its lead villain in Vincent Cassel.
Joining the likes of Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander and, following a brief spell on the sidelines while Legacy was in the ether, Matt Damon, there’s no word yet on who the esteemed French actor will be playing, though his casting is surely a major coup for Universal as it looks to get its Bourne action series back on track.
Throughout his career, Cassel has appeared in a variety of different roles on both sides of the moral compass. Chief among those is his part in the Ocean sequels, along with Darren Aronofsky’s adorned Black Swan. According to today’s report, he’ll be playing an asset, a mysterious figure who is tasked with hunting Damon’s titular agent. Across the course of the series, it’s a role that has been played to similar effect by Clive Owen, Karl Urban and Edgar Ramirez.
It’s understood that Bourne 5 will explore a “post-Snowden world,” tapping into the hard-pressing contemporary questions that has long been a trope of Universal’s genre-defining action juggernaut. In a recent interview, Damon touched upon these themes and how they will filter into the narrative of the long-gestating sequel.
“Without giving too much of it away, it’s Bourne through an austerity-riddled Europe and in a post-Snowden world,” Damon said. “It seems like enough has changed, you know? There are all these kinds of arguments about spying and civil liberties and the nature of democracy.”
Bourne 5 will open up a whole new frontier for Damon and Co. when Universal’s thriller opens on July 29, 2016.