Matt Damon Still Regrets Turning Down ‘Avatar’
As James Cameron developed his plans for the original Avatar movie, he approached one of Hollywood’s biggest actors about starring in the film — Matt Damon.
Damon, who at the time was best known for the Jason Bourne franchise in addition to his work with Ben Affleck on films such as Good Will Hunting, was interested. In fact, he “desperately” wanted to work with Cameron.
Unfortunately, things were not meant to be. Damon was working on the latest Jason Bourne movie at the time and couldn’t fit Avatar into his schedule. Thus, the actor regretfully turned down the offer, which would have given him 10% of the box office back end.
Damon Would Have Made $250 Million
Fast-forward nearly 25 years later and Damon still regrets not being able to make Avatar work.
The film would go on to become the highest-grossing film in the history of cinema, earning $2.9 billion worldwide. Had Damon signed onto the movie he could have made $250 million.
In a recent interview with Chris Wallace, however, Damon explained why he couldn’t accept the Avatar offer. It came down to loyalty.
Loyal To The ‘Bourne’ Team
“I had a contract,” Damon said. “I was in the middle of shooting the ‘Bourne’ movie and I knew that we were going to need work at the end and I had to get it all the way to the finish line and I would have to leave the movie kind of early and leave them in the lurch a little bit and I didn’t want to do that. I desperately wanted to work with Cameron. I mean, because he worked so rarely.”
“I don’t know how I could have left all my friends in the lurch. You know what I mean?” Damon added about his decision to stay with Bourne.
Ten years ago, Matt Damon and John Krasinski were sitting in the former’s kitchen, working on a script for Promised Land.
While taking a break, Damon told Krasinski the story of turning down Avatar.
“He launches himself out of the chair,” Damon explained. “He starts pacing the kitchen, he goes, ‘Nothing in your life would be different today if you had done that movie, except you and I would be having this conversation in space.’”
James Cameron’s Reaction
Last year, James Cameron laughed off Damon’s decision to turn down Avatar, noting that there was nothing that the actor could do.
“He’s beating himself up over this,” Cameron told the BBC. “And I really think you know, ‘Matt you’re kind of like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it.’ But he had to do another ‘Bourne’ film which was on his runway and there was nothing we could do about that. So he had to regretfully decline.”
When pitched the idea of having Damon cameo in a future Avatar sequel, Cameron was on board.
“Must do it. We have to do it so the world is in equilibrium again. But he doesn’t get 10%,” he said with a smile.
Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are streaming now on Disney+.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!