Stalled: Bourne 4 And Arrested Development?

Directors and actors always say that they sign onto a film because of a great script, which is only true (no matter what anyone says) part of the time. But without any script at all, most films can't get going. (Unless it's a Pirates of the Caribbean film.) Two big films we've been vaguely interested in are sitting in the script waiting room: the fourth Bourne film and Arrested Development. Will you ever see either of these movies? How about a big 'maybe'?

First up is Bourne 4, the arguably unnecessary continuation of a very well-contained trilogy. Hearing that star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass had agreed to do another film for Universal was surprising; hearing that they don't yet know how another film is actually going to work isn't. Here's what Damon told Entertainment Weekly, as quoted in the print mag and transcribed by The Playlist:

We're hoping to make a fourth, but we don't have a story and we don't have a script. I assume it can happen, but we have to come up with a storyline that's deserving. I mean, if you see the Bourne character come out again and say, 'I can't remember,' you're going to get up and leave the theater.

Meanwhile, Zap2It reports that the Arrested Development movie still doesn't have much forward momentum, but their sources are a lot more cagey. Then again, most of the 'info' we've had about this movie has been cagey. The site's Korbi TV blog quotes an unnamed insider with "I don't think Mitch is gonna do it. It seems like he's moving off the idea. So much time has passed." There have been other statements recently that support the assertion that a script doesn't yet exist, but we may only know for certain that Hurwitz has passed when it's a few years down the line and a movie still doesn't exist.

Personally, I'm fine with this. I still want Arrested Development to exist as the show, and the show only. It was beautiful while it lasted, and ended in near-ideal fashion. Let it be.