• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

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

Home> Entertainment

Published 15:16 12 Dec 2022 GMT

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

Matt Damon once turned down the chance to be in one of cinema's biggest films, and the chance to work with a great director

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock

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

Tom Wood
Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

X

@TPWagwim

Advert

Advert

Advert

Matt Damon has admitted that he turned down the chance to be paid more than any actor had ever been paid for a role in one of the biggest films of all time.

Here's Matt having a chat with another huge star - Christian Bale - for us a few years back:

To be fair, 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 biggest franchises.

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

Advert

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.

The Bourne franchise ended up doing pretty well, anyway. Credit Universal Pictures
The Bourne franchise ended up doing pretty well, anyway. Credit Universal Pictures

Cameron wanted Damon to star in a little film he was making called Avatar, perhaps you’ve heard of it?

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

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

Advert

"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 film in history at the time, with critics praising the film and audiences blown away by the special effects, Damon would have also received a stupendous paycheque.

This could have been Matt Damon.
20th Century Fox

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 good few times, meaning that it clearly has had some sort of effect on him.

Advert

However, it might not be the fact that he missed out on the boat-load of money that winds him up the most.

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

Back in a 2019 conversation with Christian Bale for GQ he 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.

Advert

“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.

  • Matt Damon given incredible ultimatum after turning down highest amount of money any actor would have received for a role
  • Matt Damon regrets turning down the highest amount of money any actor would have received for a role
  • Cillian Murphy responds to Matt Damon claiming he's the 'worst dinner companion imaginable'
  • Tom Cruise was paid highest ever amount for a single movie role and it's a mind blowing amount of money

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    People are only just noticing the ‘questionable’ Don’t Stop Me Now Queen lyrics years later

    To be fair, it is a cracking song

    Entertainment
  • an hour ago

    Martin Scorsese stopped working with Warner Bros after they tried to make decision over film with huge IMDb score

    The two camps did not see eye-to-eye over the Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon classic

    Entertainment
  • an hour ago

    Dating coach says one text message from a partner could actually be a very worrying sign

    Another one to add to the list, guys

    Entertainment
  • 2 hours ago

    Noel Gallagher spent years moving brother Liam's furniture around to convince him there was a ghost

    The Oasis frontman appears to be rather concerned by the paranormal

    Entertainment