Matt Damon turned down Avatar – and the most money ever offered for a role

Matt Damon has had a successful acting career, starring in films such as Goodwill HuntTHE Bourne franchise, Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar, And Oppenheimer (just to name a few).

Yet there’s one role he regrets turning down in the biggest movie of all time – and an opportunity to earn his biggest payday.

The Oscar winner once revealed he turned down the opportunity to work with director James Cameron on a new project – a collaboration that would have secured him the biggest payday for a role an actor has ever received .

This project was a short film called Avatar – does the name mean anything to you?

It wasn’t just the lead role that Cameron was offering, he also offered Damon 10% of the film’s profits if he accepted the role.

However, Damon said he was forced to reject the offer due to a scheduling conflict.

“James Cameron offered me ten percent of Avatar if I did, but I was working in post-production for Bourne’s Ultimatum,” the 53-year-old recalled in a 2021 interview.

Damon didn’t know it at the time, Avatar would go on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing $2,923,706,026 at the worldwide box office.

Had he accepted the role of protagonist Jake Sully (which ultimately went to Sam Worthington), Damon would have earned approximately $250 million.

From missing out on a big payday to getting the chance to work with Cameron, Damon has spoken about the missed opportunity in at least two interviews, hinting that it remains a sensitive subject for him.

Speaking to Christian Bale for GQ in 2019, he lamented: “I left more money on the table than any actor actually.

“Cameron said to me during that conversation, ‘Well, you know, I’ve only done six movies.’

“I didn’t realize that…I realized that by saying no, I was probably passing up the opportunity to one day work with him.

“So it sucked and it’s still brutal.”

Elsewhere, Matt Damon says it was “hell” kissing Scarlett Johansson, and Ben Affleck went bankrupt after renting a “party house” with Matt Damon.

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