15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Bourne Ultimatum

The third movie in the Bourne franchise is perhaps the best of the entire series, high on tension, twists and action.

How much do you remember of it? Probably more than the lead character, we're betting.

FIND OUT 15 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE BOURNE IDENTITY HERE

TAKE THE ULTIMATE BOURNE QUIZ HERE

(Images: AllStar)

1

It was never intended that there would be a third film, with the ending of Supremacy written as a tie-up of Bourne's mysteries in the first film. When Supremacy was a huge box office hit the creators had to start from scratch with developing a new story.

2

In Tangiers, Nicky (Julia Stiles) and Bourne meet in the Cafe de Paris. The real life cafe was a popular meeting spot for spies when Tangiers was an international city.

3

Prints of the film were delivered to cinemas with a fake title. Odd-numbered reels were labelled 'Umber'; even-numbered reels were labelled 'Buum'.

4

The role of Simon Ross, which went to Paddy Considine, was turned down by Emile Hirsch and Mark Ruffalo.

5

The Bourne Ultimatum was the first Bourne film to be nominated for Oscars, for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. It won all three.

6

Gael Garcia Bernal was offered the role of Bourne's rival agent Paz. He turned it down and the part went to Edgar Ramirez.

7

It wasn't possible to shut down Waterloo Station for the sequence in which Simon (Paddy Considine) is tracked by an assassin, so if you look carefully you can see members of the public looking at the camera.

8

The scenes in Tangiers were shot during Ramadan, meaning that the Muslim members of the crew couldn't eat or drink during daylight hours. This meant the non-Muslim cast and crew had to be very discreet about eating during the day.

9

The scene from the end of Bourne Supremacy, in which Bourne talks to Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) while watching her through a window, is used again in Ultimatum but was completely re-shot for this movie. None of the original footage was used.

10

Bourne's final line, "Look at us. Look at what they make you give", is a near exact repetition of the dying words of Clive Owen's assassin in The Bourne Identity.

11

The car chase near the end of the movie took six weeks to film. None of the cars were allowed to go faster than a very gentle 35 mph.

12

Despite originally stating that Ultimatum would definitely be his final Bourne movie, Paul Greengrass was actively developing a fourth Bourne (his third as director) for a year after Ultimatum's release. Matt Damon was also onboard. Eventually, in December 2008, Greengrass walked away, as did Damon.

13

The Bourne Ultimatum's $69.3 million opening weekend in the US was, at the time, the biggest opening for any film ever released in August.

14

Tony Gilroy wrote the first draft of the script, focused on Bourne repenting for his killings, but it wasn't popular and was rejected (Matt Damon said in a GQ interview several years later that the script was an "unreadable career ender"). Gilroy took no further part in the production but was brought back to write and direct The Bourne Legacy.

15

Paul Greengrass has stated that the chase on the London Underground is his tribute to The French Connection, one of his favourite movies.