Matt Damon once passed up an enormous sum to take a role in a movie.
Damon is a renowned Hollywood actor known for his performances in hit films such as Good Will Hunting, The Martian, Oppenheimer, and the Bourne series.
Given his impressive portfolio, it’s no wonder directors are eager to collaborate with the 54-year-old.
James Cameron, the famed director of Titanic and The Terminator series, was one such filmmaker interested in working with Damon.
In 2009, Cameron’s film Avatar premiered after years of development.
The movie features a high-profile cast including Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, and Sigourney Weaver – Damon could have been part of it too, but he declined the offer.
In a 2021 interview, Damon disclosed that he refused what could have been the largest payday of his career when Cameron proposed a role to him.
Moreover, Cameron was ready to offer Damon ten percent of the entire film’s revenue if he accepted the part.
However, Damon had his reasons for turning it down.
He mentioned: “James Cameron offered me ten percent of Avatar if I did it, but I was working on post-production for The Bourne Ultimatum.”
Considering the movie went on to become the highest-grossing film at the box office at the time, with accolades from critics and audiences impressed by its visual effects, Damon missed out on a huge paycheck.
Had he taken the role of Jake Sully, which went to Sam Worthington, Damon could have earned approximately $250 million.
Damon humorously added: “I will go down in history. You will never meet an actor who turned down more money.”
In later years, Cameron jested that Damon should just ‘get over it’.
“He’s beating himself up over this,” Cameron commented to the BBC in 2022, according to Variety.
“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.”
Cameron later suggested Damon should make a cameo in 2022’s Avatar: The Way of The Water, but it didn’t happen.
Perhaps there’s a chance for Damon in next year’s Fire and Ash film!