Hollywood star Matt Damon claims he missed out on making hundreds of millions by turning down a massive movie role.
Even though he isn't exactly poor, the actor missed out on the largest paycheck of his career when he rejected an offer of 10 percent of the earnings from the highest grossing film of all time.
Since hitting box office, Avatar has racked up $2.847 billion, followed closely by Avengers: Endgame that made $2.797 billion.
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Award-winning director James Cameron was desperate to get Damon on board to play the lead role of Jake Sully in the film, but the actor declined.
Damon acknowledged the missed opportunity and suggested he could have been a billionaire.
Speaking at Cannes Film Festival, he said: "I was offered a little movie called Avatar. I will go down in history. You will never meet an actor who turned down more money than me.
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"With these billionaires blasting off into space I probably would have bought a rocket ship, I don't know."
If Matt had taken the deal and bagged 10 percent of the film's earning, he would have walked away with around £200m.
Damon went on to explain that he likes to keep himself grounded - which will hopefully help him cope with the knowledge of that massive paycheck he missed out on.
He explained: "I decided a long time ago that there was no point trying to curate an image, just don't worry about it too much - and don't take yourself too seriously.
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"I was 27 when my life really changed and I became famous, so I did get to live quite a bit of my life as an anonymous person. And I really didn't want the fame to infect my relationships."
The Departed star has managed to keep his personal life out of the spotlight and has been married to former bartender Luciana Bozán Barroso for 16 years.
Damon met his wife at a bar in Miami in 2003 while he was filming comedy film Stuck on You.
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The film crew dropped by the bar where Luciana worked and apparently it was love at first sight as she and Damon spotted each other across the room.
A couple years later, Damon opted for a low-key wedding and despite being one of the top earners in Hollywood, the ceremony was done at New York's City Hall.
The Hollywood star has been nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars twice - once in 1998 for Good Will Hunting and again in 2016 for The Martian.
Words: Anish Vij
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Matt Damon