Doug Liman's first dream was to make 'big, mindless' movies

Doug Liman’s first ambition was to make “big, mindless entertainment”.

The ‘Road House’ filmmaker always knew he wanted to work on blockbuster action movies but it was only when he got the green light to do that with ‘The Bourne Identity’ that he discovered he was actually more interested in characters.

He told Empire magazine: “I always wanted to make action movies since I was a kid.

“I remember watching the first ‘Superman’ up on a big screen in Times Square when I was probably six or something. I was like, ‘I want to make movies like that.’

“But you don’t get to start making movies like that so I made ‘Swingers’ and thought it was going to be a resume film for me. I never even thought anyone would see it, and it became a little indie darling.

“It opened more doors for me and then I made ‘Go’, but that was still a little indie movie.

“But I had gotten the rights to the ‘Bourne Identity’ book after ‘Swingers’ and I’d shopped it around because people were like, ‘Love ‘Swingers’, what do you want to do next?’ I was like, ‘I want to do ‘The Bourne Identity’. And Universal said OK.

“As a young filmmaker, I wanted to make big, mindless entertainment. And when I started making ‘The Bourne Identity’, I realised that I’m actually interested in the characters.

“I never would have thought that. I’m not interested in just making a dumb spy movie.”

And Doug thinks his latest movie, ‘The Instigators’, reflects his changed ambitions.

He said: “When you look at ‘The Instigators’ all these years later, that car chase [scene] is indicative of who I’ve turned out to be.

“I love the action of the car chase and to have all the fun of shooting it, but I’m more interested in the three characters that are inside the car.”