Jason Bourne films were a wake-up call for James Bond franchise: Paul Greengrass

Filmmaker Paul Greengrass believes success of Matt Damon's Jason Bourne series was a "wake-up call" for makers of James Bond franchise.

Greengrass has directed three out of five Bourne films -- " Bourne Supremacy", " Bourne Ultimatum" and "Jason Bourne".

" Bourne Identity" was helmed by Doug Liman, while Tony Gilroy directed " Bourne Legacy".

Greengrass told Empire magazine that 007 movies "responded well" to challenge posed by Bourne films.

"It's interesting that when Jason Bourne came on scene, I think it was a bit of a wake-up call for James Bond. But my word, how well y've responded since," he said.

"Captain Phillips" director was also quizzed about his past comments in which he had labelled James Bond as "an imperialist right-wing f***face".

"I was obviously quite young and brash in those days. To be clear, whatever my feelings expressed n towards character, y were t expressed towards franchise," Greengrass clarified.

director is currently working on feature "News of World" that reunites him with his "Captain Phillips" star Tom Hanks. western drama will release in US in December this year.

Im credit: AP