Matt Damon goes on the offensive against James Bond - again

Actor Matt Damon is spouting off again - this time to the UK media - about his character Jason Bourne and the inevitable comparison to James Bond. The PR team behind the latest Bourne outing have decided to yet again go on the offensive against 007 rather than talk positively about their own film.

Hollywood star Matt Damon has dismissed James Bond as being stuck in the past - reports the BBC.

The actor, who appears in the Bourne thrillers, said: "The Bond character will always be anchored in the 1960s and in the values of the 1960s."

The suave spy was "so anachronistic when you put it in the world we live in today", he said, but added that Bourne was no better or worse than Bond.

Damon was speaking in London, where The Bourne Ultimatum, the third film in the franchise, was having its UK premiere.

"Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it, and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes," he told reporters.

"Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her." He added that Bourne "doesn't have the support of gadgets, and he feels guilty for what he's done".

Editors note: Has Matt Damon seen Casino Royale?

The first two Bourne outings - The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy - made more than $500m (£250m) at the worldwide box office.

The latest instalment went straight to the top of the North American box office chart.

Damon said he had not ruled out returning for a fourth film - provided that the British director Paul Greengrass also returned to the project.

Greengrass said: "The Bourne franchise is not about wearing Prada suits and looking at women coming out of the sea with bikinis on. It's about essence and truth, not frippery and surface."

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