Matt Damon: "Jason Bourne Saved My Career"  7/26/07

Actor Matt Damon credits his role as screen spy Jason Bourne for saving his career.

The star feared his roles in movie flops All The Pretty Horses and The Legend of Bagger Vance would prevent him for starring in a blockbuster movie.

But Damon was delighted to be cast in the Bourne blockbuster franchise and believes it saved his acting career.

He 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."