The kids over at The Playlist have got a scoop for all you BOURNE fans. According to “sources and friends close to the project,” director Paul Greengrass has quit the fourth installment of the BOURNE franchise. Supposedly, as far back as a week ago, Greengrass left the project, due to what will really only be explained as “creative differences.”

Greengrass previously picked up the BOURNE directing reins from Doug Liman, directing both THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. He’s long been attached to direct the fourth film in the series (still untitled). His work with BOURNE star Matt Damon has also extended to other flicks, as their next collaboration, GREEN ZONE, will be out next year.

The fourth BOURNE’s first script was written by George Nolfi (who co-wrote THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM). However, Universal tapped another screenwriter, Josh Zetumer, to write a “parallel script” (a nice way of saying that the first script sucked, but the story wasn’t too shabby). The Playlist notes that Zetumer has a lot of buzz surrounding his name already – he has one film in development with Leo DiCaprio’s production company (THE INFILTRATOR) and also wrote the script for DUNE (another film sorely lacking a director now that Peter Berg has dropped it).

However, Greengrass was apparently not included in the decision-making process by Universal to hire Zetumer. Other problems include GREEN ZONE’s budget – mainly the fact that it seems that Greengrass has gone hilarious over it, as the film was initially supposed to be a “smaller” film for Greengrass and Damon to play with until it was time for the next Bourne. The film is now estimated to cost at least $100 million, but most likely closer to $150 million. Part of the economic problem – Greengrass has been leaning on reshooting much of the film, something that previously happened on ULTIMATUM. Reshoots and editing money adds up, something no studio can be too happy with these days. Could this have lead to fights between Universal and Greengrass? That’s what the Playlist’s sources point to.

However, there’s been no official word of this from either Greengrass or Universal, probably due to the fact that most people seem to think this could just be another bump in the road for the fourth Bourne flick, and Greengrass could come back into the fold. But it’s a bumpy road indeed – no set script as of yet, actual filming laughably scheduled for the fall of 2010, and a star who is loyal to a director who may have quit the project.

Would you want to see a BOURNE without Greengrass? Would you even want to think about a fourth BOURNE not happening?