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Matt Damon is enjoying wild success with the release of the third film in the Bourne trilogy, but at the time he began filming “The Bourne Identity,” the first of the series, his career had nowhere near the momentum he’s enjoying today. The actor was concerned that two major big-screen duds, “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” and “All The Pretty Horses,” had possibly turned him into box-office poison. And then, Bourne swooped in and rescued Matt from a dismal career of toothpaste commercials and movies of the week. Damon says:

“Jason Bourne saved my life. The weekend The Bourne Identity opened in 2001 I was doing a play in London’s West End and I hadn’t had a film offer in six months because I’d had a couple of movies tank.

“The word was that the first Bourne movie was also going badly, because it had been delayed so long and had so many rounds of reshooting. It had all the hallmarks of a turkey.

“So I went from my final night of doing This Is Our Youth on the Friday, to the Sunday when I had 20 to 30 movie offers, just based on the opening weekend of The Bourne Identity.”

Ah, the fickle love of Hollywood. It’s about as genuine and lasting as a woman faking an orgasm. Whatever. I still love it. Where else can a person make a living, blogging about the misfortune of others? Actually, that’s not rhetorical. If you know, please tell me–rent here is murder.

(Splash)

Many more photos (Matt Damon, Luciana Barrosso, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Rachel Nichols, Ellen Pompeo, Joan Allen, Natasha Richardson, Julia Stiles, Lili Taylor) from the “Bourne Ultimatum” Film Premiere at the Arclight Cinerama Dome are after the jump.

(Hint: To open larger images of the photos in a new window or tab, chose the photo, and use the right click option on your mouse.)

(Splash)