AVATAR was never the type of film which needed the anchor of a big movie-star; director James Cameron and the revolutionary visual-effects were the main draw, but there was a time when one of the biggest movies in the world could have been headlined by a major star.
Matt Damon recently spoke with British GQ along with Christian Bale as they promoted James Mangold's FORD V FERRARI, and the actor revealed one of the biggest projects he ever turned down: AVATAR. Not only did Damon turn down the role of Jake Sully, which would be played by Sam Worthington, but also an obscenely large amount of money.
Jim Cameron offered me Avatar. And when he offered it to me, he goes, “Now, listen. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need a name for this, a named actor. If you don’t take this, I’m going to find an unknown actor and give it to him, because the movie doesn’t really need you. But if you take the part, I’ll give you ten per cent of…[Damon trails off.]
As AVATAR took in $2.79 billion worldwide, that would have been quite the chunk of change any way you slice it. "I told John Krasinski this story when we were writing Promised Land," Damon continued. "We’re writing this movie about fracking. We’re writing in the kitchen and we’re on a break and I tell him the story and he goes, 'What?' And he stands up and he starts pacing in the kitchen. He goes, 'OK. OK. OK. OK. OK.' He goes, 'If you had done that movie, nothing in your life would be different. Nothing in your life would be different at all. Except that, right now, we would be having this conversation in space.'"
Matt Damon explained that had he chosen to take the AVATAR role, it would have "caused a problem for Paul Greengrass and for all my friends on The Bourne Ultimatum," which was shooting at the time, but although he doesn't necessarily regret it, Damon is aware that he likely won't get the chance to work with James Cameron ever again.
Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, “Well, you know, I’ve only made six movies.” I didn’t realise that. He works so infrequently, but his movies, you know all of them. So it feels like he’s made more than he has. I realised in having to say no that I was probably passing on the chance to ever work with him. So that sucked and that’s still brutal. But my kids are all eating. I’m doing OK.
Matt Damon will next be seen in FORD V FERRARI on November 15, 2019, while the next AVATAR film will drop on December 17, 2021.