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

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

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

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

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

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

The "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 then towards the character, they were not expressed towards the franchise," Greengrass clarified.

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

Image credit: AP