The Bourne Supremacy (film) - Production

Production

There were no plans to make a sequel to The Bourne Identity (2002) when it was conceived. Matt Damon commented, "When The Bourne Identity came out I said, 'There is very little chance we will do a second film, just because nobody on the team who made the first wants to make another movie if it can't be as good as, or better than, the first one.'" According to producer Frank Marshall, the plot point of Marie's kidnapping to force Bourne back into his assassin persona in the novel The Bourne Supremacy and Bourne's threat to come after the CIA if they came after him again in the previous film, were the inspiration for the plot. Marshall said that screenwriter Tony Gilroy thought of an idea that Bourne "would go on what amounts to the samurai's journey, this journey of atonement." Producer Paul L. Sandberg felt that Gilroy's "veering away from the plot of the book" was necessary "because so much of the world has changed since the book's publication." The producers replaced director Doug Liman. This was mainly due to the difficulties Liman had with the studio when making the first film, and their unwillingness to work with him again. British director Paul Greengrass was selected to direct the film after the producers saw Bloody Sunday (2002), Greengrass' depiction of the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland, at Gilroy's suggestion. Producer Patrick Crowley liked Greengrass' "sense of the camera as participatory viewer", a visual style Crowley thought would work well for The Bourne Supremacy. The film was shot in reverse order of its settings: some portions of the car chase and the film's ending were shot in Moscow, then most of the rest of the film was shot in and around Berlin, and the opening scenes in Goa were filmed last.

According to a June 2008 article from The Guardian, "Two weeks before release, got together with its star, Matt Damon, came up with a new ending and phoned the producers saying the new idea was way better. And it would cost $200,000 and involve pulling Damon from the set of Ocean's 12 for a re-shoot. Reluctantly the producers agreed—the movie tested 10 points higher with the new ending".