James Cameron says Matt Damon‘s viral claim of rejecting the lead role in Avatar — and losing out on a massive payday — isn’t entirely accurate.
The backstory: For the past two years, a video of Damon has made the rounds, explaining how The Martian star was offered the role of Jake Sully in the 2009 blockbuster in exchange for a whopping 10 percent of the film’s gross (the role went to Sam Worthington).
“Jim Cameron called me — he offered me 10 percent of Avatar,” Damon says in the clips (below). “You will never meet an actor who turned down more money than me … I was in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie 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 … [Cameron] was really lovely, he said: ‘If you don’t do this, this movie doesn’t really need you. It doesn’t need a movie star at all. The movie is the star, the idea is the star, and it’s going to work. But if you do it, I’ll give you 10 percent of the movie.’”
Given that Avatar grossed $2.9 billion, the claim suggests Damon lost potentially hundreds of millions by rejecting the film and, by extension, its two subsequent sequels.
But Cameron says — to quote Rose in Titanic — that the reality is “somewhat different.”
“He was never offered the part,” Cameron tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did? Then we wound up on a call and he said, ‘I love to explore doing a movie with you. I have a lot of respect for you as a filmmaker. [Avatar] sounds intriguing. But I really have to do this Jason Bourne movie. I’ve agreed to it, it’s a direct conflict, and so, regretfully, I have to turn it down.’ But he was never offered. There was never a deal. We never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue.”
Added Cameron: “Now what he’s done is he’s extrapolated ‘I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films.’ And if, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn’t have happened. Trust me on that.”
“So he’s off the hook and doesn’t have to beat himself up anymore,” Cameron playfully adds. “Matt, it’s okay, buddy! You didn’t miss anything.”
Cameron added that he respects Damon and thought it was classy of the actor to reach out and noted that turning down a movie due to a prior commitment is an “ethical” move. “He felt compelled to call me personally and tell me; he said he didn’t want it to come from the agent — that’s an honorable guy,” Cameron says. “So all respect to Matt. I’d love to work with him someday. But that never happened. It was a conflation of different things that were happening.”
We’ve reached out to Damon’s rep to see if the actor has a response.
Cameron famously had to fight to cast Worthington in the role. The Australian actor was little known at the time, and other actors in contention included Channing Tatum. Cameron was drawn to Worthington’s raw intensity to play the tough space marine, and the actor’s screen test with co-star Zoe Saldaña sealed the deal.
In the latest film, Fire and Ash, Worthington arguably gives his best performance in the franchise yet. “Sam’s character is challenged in ways he hasn’t been before, and I think Sam as an actor has grown,” Cameron says. “Not that he was ever not raw and real and authentic, but I think he’s grown in the wisdom of his choices.”
Cameron is on the cover of this week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter and sounds off on the future of Avatar, his secret Terminator project, the threat of AI and many more topics. Read the full story.
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