Matt Damon on Tony Gilroy's Original 'Bourne Ultimatum' Script: 'A Career-Ender'

The production woes during the three 'Bourne' films are the stuff of moviemaking legend. Doug Liman butted heads with studio executives during 'The Bourne Identity,' and things didn't go that much smoother for 'The Bourne Supremacy' and director Paul Greengrass. Which is to say nothing of the mess that was the pre-production period during 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' the final installment in the franchise, to date, with Matt Damon. How bad did things get on 'Bourne 3'? Bad enough that Damon just told GQ in a new interview that writer Tony Gilroy's initial script draft was "unreadable." "It's really the studio's fault for putting themselves in that position," Damon told GQ about the studio cutting a deal with Gilroy to do one script for 'Ultimatum' for "an exorbitant of money." "I don't blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It's just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. It's terrible. It's really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left." Damon and Greengrass brought in Scott Z. Burns (who wrote 'Contagion' for Steven Soderbergh) and George Nolfi to touch things up -- which they did. 'Ultimatum' was a smash hit with critics and audiences alike -- something that Damon perhaps remembered when calling up GQ to clarify his Gilroy-focused slams. "If I didn't respect him and appreciate his talent, then I really wouldn't have cared," he said. "My feelings were hurt. That's all. And that's exactly why I shouldn't have said anything. This is between me and him. So saying anything publicly is fucking stupid and unprofessional and just kind of douchey of me." 'The Bourne Legacy' -- which stars Jeremy Renner and leaves the door open for Damon's Jason Bourne to return -- arrives in theaters in August of 2012. Tony Gilroy is the director. [via GQ] [Photo: Getty] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook