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James Cameron responds to Matt Damon turning down highest amount of money in acting history

Home> Entertainment

Published 16:03 18 Dec 2022 GMT

James Cameron responds to Matt Damon turning down highest amount of money in acting history

The actor could have earned millions by starring in the film

Emily Brown

Emily Brown

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.’

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"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."

Damon was tied to Jason Bourne when Avatar came along.
London Red carpet / Alamy Stock Photo

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.

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"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.

Featured Image Credit: dpa picture alliance archive / JEP Celebrity Photos / Alamy

Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Matt Damon

Emily Brown
Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.

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