Avatar director James Cameron has responded after Matt Damon revealed that he turned down a role on the hugely successful movie, along with 10 percent of its earnings.
Obviously you've got to be selective about your work when you're as successful as Damon, but sometimes you just make the wrong call. The decision to pass up Cameron's offer was one of them.
The 2009 movie starred Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, both of who have returned 13 years later for the highly-anticipated sequel, Avatar: The Way Of The Water.
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Last year, Damon revealed he had been offered a role in that 'little movie called Avatar', along with 10 percent of its earnings.
However, due to existing commitments with the Jason Bourne franchise, he decided to turn it down and, in doing so, gave up approximately $250 million (£205m)
“I will go down in history… you will never meet an actor who turned down more money," Damon said.
Avatar went on to gross $2.8 billion (£2.3b) following its release, and with the sequel now in cinemas Cameron took it upon himself to comment on Damon's decision all those years ago.
In an interview with the BBC, the director commented: "He’s beating himself up over this. 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."
Obviously, Damon is still hugely successful and doesn't seem to be hurting for money, but that probably still didn't stop the pit in his stomach growing as Avatar's success grew, and grew, and grew.
There may still be time to redeem himself though, as Cameron has shared plans for at least three additional Avatar sequels beyond The Way of Water, all of which will need a cast to star in them.
When asked whether Damon could be considered for one of these future roles, perhaps with a cameo to nod to the 'what if' that occurred as soon as he said no to the original, Cameron said it definitely could happen.
"Must do it, we have to do it so the world is in equilibrium again," he responded, although there is one caveat: "He doesn’t get 10 percent, f*ck that."
I guess the moral of the story is, if James Cameron offers you a job - any job - you take it.
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Matt Damon
Emily Brown