Exclusive: Matt Damon On Bourne Identity 2 and 3

Having cleaned up in the US, The Bourne Identity is set to do likewise over here when it opens on Friday. Adapted from the thriller by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity is the first in a series of three books and, while director Doug Liman has signed on for two sequels, the film's star, Matt Damon, has no such obligations. Talking to Empire Online, Damon explained his reasons for keeping his options open and whether he will indeed return to tote his guns once again. "I didn't sign up for another one, partly because I didn't know how I would enjoy this one," he told us. "Having said that, I did have a good time doing it and I would do another one, but it would have to be based on the script. I don't want to milk the cash cow, audiences don't appreciate that - I always used to hate that, when I'd see a sequel and it sucked, so I think the goal for the sequel will be to do it if we think we can make it better than the first one. Then that'll be something we're all really excited about. Updating Ludlum's cold war-set thriller, The Bourne Identity sees Damon as an amnesiac American in Europe, struggling to find his identity - and explain his natural affinity for martial arts, weapons and all-round carnage - while avoiding the hit-squad out to end his life. Taking quite a departure from the source material, the film drops many of the book's key characters and alters the storyline to accommodate Damon's more youthful hero, but how will this affect the plot of subsequent films? "That's the huge problem, the person who's really going to get put upon for the sequel is [screenwriter] Tony Gilroy. Because he went so far afield with the first novel that there's really not much he can retain from the second one, so you're keeping the name but then making up a whole other story." With no imminent projects lined up, Damon may be getting back to the typewriter to follow the screenwriting Oscar he and co-scribe Ben Affleck landed back in 1998. "I talked to Ben a couple of weeks and we were talking about putting our heads together with his brother Casey and coming up with another one." One rumour he was quick to quash was talk of a follow-up to Good Will Hunting that has been circulating the Net this week. "We did the sequel in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, I think that's as far as it'll ever go. We're not interested in doing a sequel to that, the movie has a very definite end. Talk about milking the cash cow; that would be just fucking shameless." To read the Empire Online's full interview with Matt Damon, check back later in the week.