Doug Liman felt "insecure" while making ‘The Bourne Identity’.
The 52-year-old filmmaker directed the first instalment of the Matt Damon franchise back in 2002 but as a big James Bond fan he was worried he was making a "poor man’s spy movie" and didn’t think it would be as successful as Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible’.
Speaking to Den of Geek, Liman said: "I felt so insecure while I was making ‘The Bourne Identity’ that I was making a poor man’s spy movie. There was someone of the set who had the ‘Mission: Impossible’ ring tone on his phone, and every time his phone rang it drove me nuts because I was afraid my movie was never going to be as good as ‘Mission: Impossible’.
"It was never going to be as good as James Bond. So it was really surreal afterwards to go and see the next James Bond film, and be like, ‘Oh, I did make a James Bond film, because now the James Bond film looks like ‘The Bourne Identity’."
Although the ‘Bourne’ franchise spawned four subsequent films, Liman didn’t act as the director but instead as executive producer.
But the filmmaker also admitted he would love to be given a chance to helm a 007 movie in the future.
He said: "I always wanted to make a James Bond movie my whole life. I didn’t grow up like Quentin Tarantino, watching esoteric art films at the video store. I’d go to the multiplex and see big, mainstream movies, and I’d go ‘I want to make one of those one day’. I always wanted to make a James Bond film, and they only seemed to hire British directors and I’d made ‘Swingers’ – they were never going to hire me for a James Bond film off ‘Swingers’.
"I would still love to direct a James Bond film, but I’m not sure if I have or haven’t."
Doug Liman felt insecure filming The Bourne Identity
