Tommy Lee Jones to Play a Cranky Old CIA Agent in Next Bourne Movie

By  · Published on July 28th, 2015

Miramax

Miramax

While we wait to see if Tommy Lee Jones gets to reprise his cranky FBI agent role in that maybe-sequel to (or maybe it’s a remake of) The Fugitive and whether he’ll reprise his cranky Men in Black agent in that proposed MIB/21 Jump Street crossover, we at least will get to see the actor play a cranky CIA agent in the next, currently untitled fifth Bourne movie.

According to Variety, Jones will be a high-up official in the Company, similar to the characters previously played by Brian Cox, Edward Norton, David Straithairn and Chris Cooper. I guess Joan Allen, too. But given Jones’s usual demeanor, I’d place him closest to Cox. There’s still no news on whether any of those earlier players (the ones with characters who are still alive) are on board again.

As much as I enjoy the actor in these sorts of roles, I’m all for him trying something new this time around. Maybe he shouldn’t be cranky or even mad at the title spy. Maybe he could be a fun-loving, free-spirited member of the CIA top brass. And I don’t mean something where his sourpuss reputation is played with for comedy. I mean something unexpected. He has an Oscar, after all. It’s time to show some range.

Jones will join Matt Damon, who is back as Jason Bourne, plus also-returning Julia Stiles and newcomer Alicia Vikander. Absolutely no chance that we’ll see The Bourne Legacy’s Jeremy Renner, which is fine because he can be enjoyed as early as this weekend dealing with another cranky CIA official, played by Alec Baldwin, in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Paul Greengrass is also back in the directors chair this time around and is writing the script with his longtime editor, Christopher Rouse, who won an Academy Award for his work on the last installment involving this old team, The Bourne Ultimatum.

Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.