Matt Damon regrets turning down the highest amount of money any actor would have received for a role

Imagine having loads, and loads of money to your name. And imagine regularly getting even more. Well how would you feel if you found out you then missed on an absolute whopper amount of it?

For Matt Damon (who doesn’t need to imagine), it’s a feeling of regret. He turned down the highest amount of money any actor would have received for a role.

Here he is having a chat with fellow huge star - Christian Bale - for us a few years back:

Let's be real, it’s not as if Damon has been struggling for roles or cash during his career, having taken on some of the biggest characters in cinema and starred in some of the most successful franchises.

However, it’s one franchise - and the director in particular - that he let slip by him that causes him regret.

Damon, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay work on Good Will Hunting alongside Ben Affleck, spoke back in 2021 about how he actually turned down the biggest payday of his entire career by far when James Cameron came a-calling.

Cameron wanted Damon to star in a little film he was making called Avatar, you know the one.

What’s more, he was willing to give up 10 percent of the whole movie if Damon would star in it.

Taylor Hill/WireImage/Getty Images

However, the actor explained: "I had to turn down Avatar.

"James Cameron offered me 10 percent of Avatar if I did it, but I was working on post-production for The Bourne Ultimatum."

So, given that the film went on to take more at the box office than any other movie in history at the time, Damon would have also received a stupendous pay cheque.

If he'd agreed to appear as Jake Sully - a role which ultimately went to Sam Worthington - he'd have trousered around $250 million for appearing in the film.

In fact, he’s spoken about it a fair few times, meaning it clearly has had some sort of effect on him.

However, it might not be the fact that Damon missed out on the boatload of money that winds him up the most.

20th Century Studios

It could be that he missed the opportunity to work with Cameron, who only makes a very select number of films.

Back in a 2019 conversation with Christian Bale for GQ, Damon said: "I've left more money on the table than any actor actually.

"Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, 'Well, you know, I've only made six movies'.

"I didn't realise that ... 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."

Yes, and when you throw in the $250 million there as well, that’s got to really sting.

Still, it’s not like the Bourne franchise wasn’t an incredibly successful and lucrative franchise, so we won’t need to hold a whip-around for Matt Damon this Christmas.

Topics: Matt Damon, Celebrity, TV and Film, Money

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_