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Matt Damon wades into gun control debate at European premiere of Jason Bourne

Matt Damon wades into gun control debate at European premiere of Jason Bourne

United Kingdom

Matt Damon has returned to his role as the troubled former CIA assassin Jason Bourne 9 years after he last played the role.

Jason Bourne is based on a fictional character by the same name created by novelist Robert Ludlum.

Damon who has played the title character in three out of the four Bourne movies, The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and the Bourne Ultimatum (2007) said it was a “lot of fun” to return to the title role in the fifth installment aptly titled ‘Jason Bourne’.

Speaking at the European premiere of the latest Jason Bourne flick in London, Damon said preparing for the comeback was not easy.

“Well it was hard to get ready for it, I mean much harder than when I was 29. You know I’m 45 now so it’s a whole different animal. But you know, look, that’s a good problem to have.”

In the latest Bourne film, based on the novels by Robert Ludlum, and directed by Paul Greengrass – co-star Julia Stiles returns as fellow operative “Nicky Parsons” while Oscar winner Alicia Vikander, a longtime “Bourne” fan, debuts as a prodigy hacker in the CIA director’s team.

“I grew up watching these kind of films. The Bourne franchise for me was one of my absolute favourites. I’m a big fan so it was a real pinch-me moment when I actually saw myself, saw the film for the first time a week ago and I was like “Oh my God, I actually got to be in one of them!”“ she said.

Matt Damon who plays a character skilled in the use of guns, waded into the controversy surrounding gun control in the US saying “it would be great to be able to have a sensible conversation about how to not infringe on people’s rights, their second amendment right, which is very important to everybody but somehow keep the guns away from people like Adam Lanza who are mentally unstable and will go shoot up a classroom full of little kids”.

Damon described the ongoing debate over gun control in the US as “such a toxic, kind of radioactive subject in our country”.

“You can’t even talk about talking about it without people really getting worried and angry and feeling it’s a very polarizing topic” he said adding that it would be “great if we could somehow figure out a way to protect our kids from people who are mentally unstable”.

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