As the release of “Avatar 2” looms, it’s a great opportunity to remember that Matt Damon turned down the lead role in the first film. A decision that prevented him from winning a hell of a lot!
Matt Damon on Pandora? It came close! The American actor indeed failed to hold the main role of Avatar, James Cameron’s classic, but he refused the offer to focus on the Jason Bourne saga. Today, he somewhat regrets this choice, because his participation in the SF film released in theaters in 2009 would have allowed him to earn a lot of money.
“James Cameron proposed Avatar to me. When he proposed it to me, he told me he didn’t need anyone, he didn’t need anyone famous“, declared in 2019 Matt Damon at the microphone of British GQ, in remarks relayed by The Hollywood Reporter. “He told me that if I refused, he would find an unknown actor and give him the role, because the film didn’t really need me. But he told me that if I took the role, he would give me 10% of…”
The Hollywood star then interrupts his sentence without pronouncing the word “recipes”. And we understand that he has things across his throat: Avatar has won nearly 3 billion dollars in revenue worldwide and would therefore have allowed the actor to win… We’ll let you get out the calculators, it’s quite dizzying!
Matt Damon: he almost played in Avatar, The Dark Knight, Daredevil…
“So yeah. I’ve lost more money than any actor today. It sucks and it’s still brutal for me, but my kids are getting enough to eat, I’m fine”concludes the one who was recently on the poster for Stillwater and The Last Duel and who will be found next year in the credits of Oppenheimer, the new Christopher Nolan.
It was ultimately the Australian Sam Worthington who got the role of Jake Sully. A role he will resume in Avatar 2: the way of the water, in theaters on December 14th.
The trailer for “Avatar 2: the way of the water”: