Matt Damon, the successful actor in the upcoming movie “Ford Vs Ferrari”, recently did an interview with GQ Magazine to promote the film.
During the interview, he recalled a conversation he had with fame director James Cameron, who once offered him the leading role in the 2009 mega hit “Avatar”. He later added in the interview that he was not only offered the lead, but also a whopping 10% of the movie’s revenue, which would have got him US$250 million (RM 1.05 billion)!
“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 gonna 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 10%,” he told the publication.
Damon later added that he did come to regret the decision for not taking the role which eventually fell to Sam Worthington. “I’ve left more money on the table than any actor actually,” he confessed before adding, “but Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, Well, you know, I’ve only made six movies.”
He continued, “I didn’t realise that. He works so infrequently… 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 did give his reason on why he turned the role down as it would have caused trouble for his role in “The Bourne” series.
“It would have caused a problem for Paul Greengrass and for all my friends on ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’, so I couldn’t do it,” he explained.
James Cameron’s 2009 “Avatar” was the highest grossing movie of all time, that was only beaten recently by “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019. He later added that losing the title actually gave him hope for the industry as it prove that people are still willing to go to the cinema instead of streaming the movies at home.
Cameron’s next movie “Avatar 2” is set to come out in theaters at the end of 2020, after being pushed back 1 year following a major studio shake-up.
Source: Metro, GQ Magazine./ Featured Image: Hollywood Reporter
