Matt Damon: A Star Is 'Bourne'

It wasn't the chance to do an action film. It wasn't the script based on a Robert Ludlam best-seller.

What drew actor Matt Damon to star in "The Bourne Identity." was the chance to work with director Doug Liman who is known for the indie hits "Swingers" and "Go."

Damon , who takes on the title role of the new movie, an amnesiac spy trying to recover his identity while racing to outwit assassins on his trail, visited The Early Show to discuss his role.

"I wanted to do 'The Bourne Identity' because of Doug and his sensibility," Damon said. "I knew that he would not make a standard Hollywood action movie, and I also knew that if I was ever going to try something like this, I'd want to do it with a guy like him."

Both Damon and Liman are new to the action genre. Though Damon has had roles in war films such as "Saving Private Ryan," he has never had to carry the weight of an action film. Before this, Liman has worked primarily with smaller independent films.

Damon did most of the stunts himself and the film was shot on location in Prague, Paris, and Italy.

To get ready for production, Damon says, he trained in Thai boxing, karate, shooting, and Filipino martial arts discipline Kali.

"I had about three months to work on the martial arts, boxing and weapons training, which was like summer school in assassin training," Damon said.

The 22-year-old novel, "The Bourne Identity" is the first book in Ludlum's Cold War trilogy, which was among his most popular series. Liman obtained the rights to the trilogy as well as the blessing of the author, who died in March of 2001, to adapt the plot as a contemporary spy movie.

Expect the rest of the Bourne series, "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" to hit screens in the future. And Damon is the face of the new spy thriller franchise.

Damon interrupted his stint on the London stage to publicize his new movie. New York is the end of his eight-city, two-week tour with stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boise, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston (where he threw the first pitch out at Monday's Red Sox game). After taping David Letterman on Thursday evening, he leaves for London to finish the last four performances of his limited run of "This Is Our Youth" in the West End.

Fast Facts About Matt Damon:

• 1970: Born Oct. 8, Matthew Paige Damon in Boston, Mass.
• 1981: Met and became friends with Ben Affleck, who lived two blocks away (date approximate)
• 1 988: Made feature film debut in "Mystic Pizza"; had one line
• 1988-91: Attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Majored in English
• 1990: Made TV acting debut in the TV-movie, "Rising Son" (TNT)
• 1990: Acted with the prestigious American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge and with various Harvard theatre groups
• 1992: Played first prominent screen role in "School Ties", also featuring Affleck
• 1995: Last TV acting role (to date) in the TNT movie "The Good Old Boys", directed by Tommy Lee Jones
• 1996: Had strong supporting role in "Courage Under Fire"
• 1996: Sold script co-written with Ben Affleck, "Good Will Hunting"; Damon and Affleck co-starred in feature which was released in 1997; received Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; also nominated as Best Actor
• 1997: Made cameo appearance in "Chasing Amy", starring Affleck and directed by Kevin Smith
• 1997: Had first leading role in features in "John Grisham's 'The Rainmaker'", directed by Francis Ford Coppola; With Ben Affleck, formed Pearl Street Productions
• 1998: Had title role in Steven Spielberg's WWII drama "Saving Private Ryan"; Played leading role of a reformed gambler in "Rounders"
• 1999: Teamed up with Affleck again to play a pair of renegade angels in Kevin Smith's "Dogma"
• 1999: Co-starred with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law in "The Talented Mr. Ripley", Scripted and directed by Anthony Minghella
• 1999: Formed LivePlanet with Affleck and producers Sean Bailey and Chris Moore
• 2000: LivePlanet sponsored Project Greenlight, an Internet screenwriting competition created in partnership with HBO and Miramax
• 2000: Portrayed a 1930s golfer in "The Legend of Bagger Vance", directed by Robert Redford
• 2000: Starred in the film version of "All the Pretty Horses", scripted and directed by Billy Bob Thornton
• 2001: Appeared in the ensemble of "Ocean's Eleven"
• 2001-2002: Was an executive producer (with Ben Affleck and others) and appeared in the HBO series "Project Greenlight" which followed the making of the film "Stolen Summer" (2002)
• 2002: With Casey Affleck, co-wrote and co-starred in the Sundance-screened "Gerry"
• 2002: Made rare TV acting appearance in a guest spot on the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace" playing a heterosexual who poses as a gay man to land a spot in a chorale group