Before he bought a zoo, Matt Damon had a penchant for throwing elbows and knees. Also driving a tiny little car through narrow European streets trying to get away from bad guys like Clive Owen. I’m talking, of course, of The Bourne Identity, the first of a trilogy that brought about a new era of action film, one that used the shaky-cam like familiar handgun in the director’s pant pocket. The director of the first Bourne film was Doug Liman, not Paul Greengrass, as so many viewers mistakenly believe. Greengrass took duties on Supremacy and Ultimatum, but this first go-around was all Doug Liman, the director who also brought us the very cool style of films like Swingers, Go, and Jumper. Okay, you can bypass Jumper. Liman takes solo duties on the commentary track for The Bourne Identity, so let’s delve into what exactly he had to say about this film in 3…2…

A story has been making the rounds today that Tom Cruise is more than likely set to star in director Doug Liman’s next venture, a sci-fi film called All You Need is Kill. Variety says that the star has been courted for the role for a while and seems to be poised to take it, while Inside Movies claims that the deed has already been done and the papers are all signed up, so no matter who you believe, it’s looking like this will be a project coming, at least eventually, to a theater near you. All You Need is Kill is set to be adapted from a graphic novel of the same name by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and the story sees Cruise’s character caught in a Groundhog Day-type time loop where he lives the same day over and over again, but with a slight twist. Okay, maybe not so slight, the twist is that the day he’s living over and over again is one where he’s battling space aliens for the very survival of the planet. Every day he goes to battle, every day he dies, and every morning he wakes up anew. Until the 158th time he gives it a go, and he meets a character called (at least in the comic) The Bitch of War, who changes everything. Sounds crazy.

Since we all have a million dollars, our minds are almost always tuned to the day dream of what kind of movie we’d make with all that loose cash just lying around (since banks do nothing but lose things). Would it be a romantic horror film? Would it be a silent action film? Would we blow of all of it on lighting and forget the other elements of production design? Probably. Fortunately, we’ve all had a few filmmakers tread before us in using their million bucks with efficiency and artistry. In a world where Michael Bay needs 200 suitcases full of $1m, these directors made it happen with only one of those suitcases (or no suitcases at all), and they created a lasting legacy despite their lack of foldin’ money. If they can do it, why not us? Here are 8 great films made for under a million dollars that we can all learn from. (And if you enter our contest sponsored by Doritos, you might actually win that $1m you need for all those lights.)

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting piece on Tom Cruise, attempting to prove that he’s once again viable as a ground-moving A-list star. It’s an interesting opinion editorial that leaves out the larger points that 1) even when Cruise bombs, the movie usually makes over $200m and 2) it’s the entire idea of commercially block busting actors that’s diminishing. However, one thing that’s for sure is that Cruise himself isn’t. He’s got a few projects in the hopper, and at least one is a return to the world of science fiction. According to THR, there may be a second – the Doug Liman project We Mortals Are (which used to be called All You Need Is Kill and is still missing a predicate). The story focuses on a space soldier who, through science-y fiction, keeps living to fight on the day before he dies. After 158 wonderful deaths, he sees something different – a female entity known as The Bitch of War. It’s based off of the Hiroshi Sakurazaka manga, and, as it turns out, there’s something appropriate about placing Cruise in a movie about death and rebirth.

If you’re interested in seeing veteran actor Brian Cox slit a few throats and chop off a few heads, then Ironclad is definitely the film for you. It’s got fantastically gory kills, Paul Giamatti looking angry in every frame and chewing apart every inch of scenery with each glare, and blood hitting every inch of the screen imaginable. Sound promising? Director Jonathan English has captured a tone that revels in both gore and laughs. Brian Cox, thankfully, gets to partake in English’s bloodbath. I knew within the first few seconds of speaking with Cox that I was going to enjoy the chat. Cox got a hearty laugh from the site’s name right from the start and had a few questions about its origin, a part I desperately wish I recorded. It was a nice icebreaker, to say the least. Calm and thoughtful, the actor made for a quick and pleasant interview. We discussed the fun tone of Ironclad and, mainly, the different directors he’s collaborated with, including the likes of Bryan Singer, Doug Liman, and Rupert Wyatt.

Variety has gotten its hands on the director shortlist for The Wolverine, and it, mostly, consists of fairly safe and obvious choices. But, like many of these lists, a great and head scratching question is posed: Does Hugh Jackman and company actually know what type of movie they want to make? When a list of favored directors features the likes of Mark Romanek and the director of Tokyo Drift, it boggles the mind. Here’s the apparent list of favored options that, per usual, you should take with a slight grain of salt:

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr puts on a wizard’s robe, wears a colorful scarf and dances around in the woods with his magic wand yelling, “Stupify!” And that’s just to celebrate the release of Fair Game in his home town. He also takes a look at this little independent film that few people have even heard of, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. Sadly, a bizarre mishap with his wizarding skills causes a boulder to fall on his hand and pin him for 93 minutes, which was actually quite fortunate because it gave him just enough time to watch 127 Hours.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen director Doug Liman in the world of dialog driven filmmaking. With Go and Swingers, you got the feeling that Liman was a born director of making words truly pop as action, but then he transitioned to actual popcorn action. Sure, everyone likes The Bourne Identity, but does anyone actually love Mr. & Mrs. Smith or – dare I say it - Jumper? And with that said, Doug Liman returns to where he once so promisingly started out with Fair Game. It’s basically a marriage drama, similar to Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but without the gunplay. It’s not the “high-octane” thriller it may, and most likely, will be sold as. Doug Liman had plenty to say when I sat down with him. His answers were thoughtful speeches when it came to returning to dialog driven films, how he initially dreamed of only making dumb action movies, his visual style, and what exactly happened on Jumper.

USA Networks is no slouch when it comes to the summer fun. And the networks newest series, the Doug Liman produced Covert Affairs, has officially been green-lit for a second season. This comes after six straight weeks of increasing ratings with the latest episode pulling in 5.36 million viewers. By comparison, the show’s lead in, White Collar, now in its second season, pulled in a smaller but still respectable 4.48 million viewers on its most recent episode. Covert Affairs follows the life of CIA rookie agent Annie Walker played by Piper Perabo. Think ALIAS the beginning, minus the sci-fi elements. Every week is an hour of pure escapist entertainment with some heart. If you haven’t seen the show yet, they you have no idea what you’re missing.

Summit Entertainment is gearing up for yet another awards season run, hot off their win of Best Picture last year with The Hurt Locker. In their corner this year is Doug Liman’s latest, Fair Game, the story of real-life CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) and her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn), who made headlines not long ago when Plame was outed by the press, unspooling a massive government operation and putting her face on the otherwise sticky situation of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq just before the most recent war began. The film played to lukewarm reviews at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year and is decidedly stacked with talent. Should be worth keeping an eye on between now and its November 5 release date. Trailer and synopsis are available after the jump.

Those silly French, they do love to name-drop in their Cannes line-up. Twenty ten will bring names like Jean-Luc Godard, Woody Allen, Steven Frears, Oliver Stone, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and more to the world’s most glamorous film fest, the 63rd Festival de Cannes.

Arthos, Porthos, Liman.

The actor fresh off his Oscar night success is in negotiations to play the husband of Valerie Plame in a film based on the administration’s outing of her as a CIA operative.

Director Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity) has his eye on Russell Crowe for the role of Valerie Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson.

Given the film’s premise, Jumper fails to explore a satiable amount of it’s myriad of possibilities.

Contrary to popular belief, just having a cool concept has nothing to do with producing a good movie.

Everyone seems to be anxiously looking forward to next summer for big, cool blockbuster flicks, but for some reason we can’t take our eye off of Jumper.

We’ve been looking to the second trailer for this film ever since the first one dropped two months ago.