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Matt Damon has a major career regret of not being cast inAvatar’slead role, but director, James Cameron believed the actor should get over it. The high-budget sequel,Avatar: The Way of Water,which took many years to complete, was released in 2022 and has already made a sizable sum of money. There will be more sequels, with the release ofAvatar 3set for 30 May 2025.
It is estimated that simply rejectingAvatar(2022),which featured Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña in the lead, cost Damon upwards of $250 million.
Moreover, even Damon admitted in 2019 that he had to turn down a role offer of the lead role in a James Cameron film.
Since theGood Will Huntingactor is one of the most well-known actors of all time, theAvatarfranchise’s director stated in 2022 that he needed to “get over it.”
Also read-Matt Damon’s Best Pal, Ben Affleck Dissed Him for Begging for Extra Role in MCU Film After He Nabbed Batman
James Cameron Asked Matt Damon To ‘Get Over’ Turning DownAvatar
James Cameron, whose visionary work on the film enthralled millions of viewers, advisedMatt Damonto “get over it” and take advantage of the opportunities that have come his way.
We are talking about Damon saying he regretted passing on theAvatarrole because he had other commitments at the time and thus, he lost out financially. Even though Cameron offered him 10% of the movie’s box office take, the 52-year-old actor declined a part in the movie.
Avatar: The Way of Watereventually made over $2 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2022. According to this, Damon would have made at least $250 million or more.
When the actor discussed rejectingAvatarin 2019, he said,
“I will go down in history. You will never meet an actor who turned down more money.”
However, theAvatarseries director chuckled when asked how about the money the actor claimed he missed out on. In a 2022 interview with BBC Radio, the 68-year-old director said:
“He’s [Matt Damon] beating himself up over this. 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.”
At the time, Damon had declinedAvatar: The Way of Waterbecause he was working with director, Paul Greengrass to complete the action trilogy forBourne.
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Could Matt Damon Make a Cameo in a FutureAvatarFilm?
James Cameron, renowned for his unique blending of storytelling and cutting-edge technology, expressed his belief that everything happens for a reason. He emphasized that given how Matt Damon’s career had flourished and provided him with so many other successful endeavors, he should not be dwelling on lost opportunities.
When Cameron was asked if Damon could make a brief cameo appearance in a futureAvatarfilm, the Canadian director seemed interested.
“Must do it. We have to do it so the world is in equilibrium again. But he doesn’t get 10%, f— that.”
Although Damon was “desperate” to work with Cameron on theAvatarfranchise, he ultimately had to decline due to prior work commitments and completing theBournefranchise.
At the time, he claimed that his real regret over passing onAvatarwas that he might not have had another opportunity to collaborate withThe Terminatordirector. Sam Worthington ended up landing the part.
Matt Damon said the following to CNN:
“I’m sure it’s the most money an actor ever turned down, you know? I had a contract … 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.”
James Cameron produced and directed the 2022 science fiction movie, and it received favorable reviews from critics. It became the highest-grossing movie of that year after breaking multiple box office records and earning over $2.320 billion globally.
You can watchAvatar(2009) andAvatar: The Way of Water(2022),which is available to stream on Disney Plus.
Also read-Ben Affleck, Matt Damon “Were Broke for 6 Months” Despite $225M Robin Williams Mega-Hit: “We paid about $160,000 in taxes”
Source-BBC Radio
Siddhika Prajapati
Senior Journalist & Content Head
Articles Published :3309
With over 3,300 articles carved into the digital walls of FandomWire, Siddhika Prajapati excels at creating, curating, and elevating engaging stories. She takes pride in giving these stories a home and, of course, she’s got a Google Knowledge Panel to prove it!Whether it’s reviewing the latest drop on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Apple TV+, or analyzing the cultural echoes of a streaming hit on Paramount+ or Max, Siddhika is always writing three steps ahead of the discourse.
