They say necessity is the mother of invention. That was certainly the case for directorDoug Liman, who needed to film a quick scene for a movie and accidentally created an entirely new trend of movie aesthetics. The “shaky cam” technique is used in a number of films today,particularly “found footage” films, but its use was popularized by Matt Damon’sJasonBournefilms and from one scene in particular from the first film.
In an interview withIGN, while discussing his favorite scenes from his biggest movies,Liman points to a brief scene in his 2002 filmThe Bourne Identityfor pioneering the “shaky cam” aesthetic.The movie is considereda classic modern action filmbecause of its unique style, typified by one scene in particular. The scene, which occurs about 49 minutes into the movie, is brief and involves Matt Damon’s Bourne entering the Gare du Nord train station in Paris and looking at the train arrival boards. The scene has little effect on the plot, but it looks different from the rest of the film, and that was because Liman had to do some improvising:
“That shot stands out because we didn’t have permission to shoot that. I didn’t have the support of the studio to shoot it. I didn’t have permission from Paris to shoot it. Because I’d come from making a little independent film likeSwingers, I was no stranger to just stealing shots.”
The Bourne Identity
With his roots as an independent filmmaker, Liman reverted to a “guerrilla style” of filmmaking. He took a small handheld camera into the train station with Damon to film the scene with no extras, crew, or professional lighting.It was a risk in a crowded train station, as Damon was already a known film star, but Liman got the shot, and filmmakers took notice.
“I had a camera, so it was like we had to be really fast, so there’s a kind of shaky quality to that scene. And so when people think of The Bourne Identity and they think it sort of pioneered this shaky camera aesthetic. It’s really the sequels that did more shaky camera, but the aesthetic was born, no pun intended, from necessity in that shot.”
Paul Greengrass took over theBournefranchise as director after the first film, and he took the “shaky cam” technique from that one scene and used it extensively throughout the movies that followed.The authentic energy from the “shaky cam” aesthetic gave theBournefilms a unique look that other directors copied over and over. But it was born out of the necessity to get a shot quickly.
The Bourne Identity: Where the Cast Is Today
These are the recent and upcoming projects the cast of 2002’s The Bourne Identity has been working on.
Doug Liman’s Action Movie Legacy
Prior toThe Bourne Identity, Doug Liman made his mark with the critically acclaimed indie filmsSwingersandGo.The success ofBourneopened the door for Liman to direct some of the biggest action hits of the last two decades, each with a signature visual style.His next hit was 2005’sMr. and Mrs. Smith, the assassin-themed action comedy starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. In 2008, he directedJumper, a sci-fi thriller led by Hayden Christensen (Star Wars).
In 2014, he directed the vastly underratedEdge of Tomorrow, a unique blend of time travel, sci-fi, and alien invasion films starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.He later directed the action filmsThe Wall,Chaos Walking, and the Amazon reboot ofRoad House. Liman’s latest film,The Instigatorsfor Apple TV, is an action comedy thatreunites the director with Matt Damon. Damon himself is reuniting with hisOcean’s 11co-star, Casey Affleck, as the two play robbers on the run after a heist goes awry. It premieres on August 9.
The Bourne Identityis streaming now on Starz.
