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Though he will not be seen reprising his iconic role as Jason Bourne in "The Bourne Legacy", Matt Damon recently sang praises to Jeremy Renner who will replace him in tackling the lead role in the fourth "Bourne" movie. Speaking to MTV News, Damon gushed that Renner is the "obvious choice" to star in the forthcoming action film.

The 41-year-old actor revealed that he and director Paul Greengrass, who helmed the second and third "Bourne" movies, thought that Renner was the right actor to carry on the franchise. He said, "When Paul Greengrass and I were talking about the character and maybe doing a fourth one a couple years ago and maybe passing it off to somebody, Renner was the guy we talked about."

"He's an obvious choice, because he's such a good actor and can carry a movie," added Damon. "Those [Bourne] movies are really tough, because you need the guy to be internally tortured about something, and Jeremy's the kind of guy you could watch. You could remove the action and watch Jeremy just angst over something for two hours, and it could be really compelling."

During the chat, Damon also weighed in on whether or not the fourth "Bourne" film could fit in with the last three films. "My understanding is that it's like if you think of 'X-Men' and then 'Wolverine', the spin-off movie, just think of it in reverse. There's the Bourne character, and then there's this whole world. It doesn't preclude Paul Greengrass and I from doing another ['Bourne' movie]," he said.

In another interview with New York Daily News, Damon explained why he wouldn't return to "Bourne Legacy". He said, "It's a director's movie and I'm sorry, that's the first person you need, the director. I wouldn't do it with him [Greengrass]. And he was ready to do one and they gave us a release date without a script, and he backed away. He just went, 'I'm not sure we can guarantee it's going to be as good as the other ones.' And that was enough for me to take a step back."

Details of "Bourne Legacy" are still kept secret, but Renner recently told Empire magazine that his character's name will be Aaron Cross. To open in the U.S. theaters on August 17, 2012, the upcoming movie is also supported by Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Albert Finney, Oscar Isaac and Joan Allen.