'Bourne' animosity: Matt Damon slams writer

And here we thought the on-screen drama was tense.

Matt Damon, who ordinarily remains above the trash-talking fray, sunk himself right down into it this week while speaking out as the coverboy of the new issue of GQ.

Among other far less intriguing revelations, the A-list Oscar winner didn't hold back while criticizing the "Bourne Ultimatum" screenwriter Tony Gilroy for turning in a script that he dubbed not only "embarrassing" and "unreadable," but a veritable "career-ender" for the scribe.

And that's only the tip of this bitterly cold iceberg.

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"It's really the studio's fault for putting themselves in that position," Damon said, after explaining that for the third film, "The Bourne Ultimatum," Universal gave Gilroy something of a sweetheart deal, which allowed him to write up only one (apparently quite rough) draft of the script in exchange for a hefty writer's fee.

"I don't blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It's just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. It's terrible. It's really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left."

Well if that's Damon not blaming Tony, we'd hate to hear what it sounds like when he does.

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Of course, it wasn't long before Damon -- who, lest we forget did score an Oscar for screenwriting and knows of what he speaks--thought better of his slams and returned to being Mr. Nice Guy, contacting the writer of the GQ article to clarify his feud-sparking comments.

"If I didn't respect him and appreciate his talent, then I really wouldn't have cared," he said after calling the writer back up to apologize. "My feelings were hurt. That's all. And that's exactly why I shouldn't have said anything.

"This is between me and him. So saying anything publicly is f--king stupid and unprofessional and just kind of douchey of me."

Well, at least that saves Gilroy the trouble of having to draft a retort.

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Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45655811/ns/today-entertainment/

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