More than a decade ago, Matt Damon did the Playboy Interview and he dropped some interesting gossip about many different things. He ended up talking about all of the films he’d turned down which he later regretted not doing. He was offered Josh Brolin’s role in Milk, he could have potentially done Brokeback Mountain with Joaquin Phoenix, and he swore up and down that James Cameron offered him the lead in Avatar. Damon told Playboy: “Having to say no to Avatar was tough because I particularly wanted to work with James Cameron, and still do, because he’s fantastic. He knew he was the star of that movie and that everyone was going to go see it anyway.” In other interviews, Damon claimed that Cameron knew he didn’t need a big name for the role, but that Cameron still offered him 10% of the gross if he took the part. Meaning, if Damon had said yes, he would have gotten a nine-figure backend, potentially something over $250 million. The problem? James Cameron now says that he never offered Matt Damon anything like that.
James Cameron says Matt Damon‘s viral claim of rejecting the lead role in Avatar — and losing out on a massive payday — isn’t entirely accurate.
The backstory: For the past two years, a video of Damon has made the rounds, explaining how The Martian star was offered the role of Jake Sully in the 2009 blockbuster in exchange for a whopping 10 percent of the film’s gross (the role went to Sam Worthington).
“Jim Cameron called me — he offered me 10 percent of Avatar,” Damon said [on camera]. “You will never meet an actor who turned down more money than me … I was in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie and I would have to leave the movie kind of early and leave them in the lurch a little bit and I didn’t want to do that … [Cameron] was really lovely, he said: ‘If you don’t do this, this movie doesn’t really need you. It doesn’t need a movie star at all. The movie is the star, the idea is the star, and it’s going to work. But if you do it, I’ll give you 10 percent of the movie.’”
Given that Avatar grossed $2.9 billion, the claim suggests Damon lost potentially hundreds of millions by rejecting the film and, by extension, its two subsequent sequels. But Cameron says — to quote Rose in Titanic — that the reality is “somewhat different.”
“He was never offered the part,” Cameron tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did? Then we wound up on a call and he said, ‘I love to explore doing a movie with you. I have a lot of respect for you as a filmmaker. [Avatar] sounds intriguing. But I really have to do this Jason Bourne movie. I’ve agreed to it, it’s a direct conflict, and so, regretfully, I have to turn it down.’ But he was never offered. There was never a deal. We never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue.”
Added Cameron: “Now what he’s done is he’s extrapolated ‘I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films.’ And if, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn’t have happened. Trust me on that. So he’s off the hook and doesn’t have to beat himself up anymore,” Cameron playfully adds. “Matt, it’s okay, buddy! You didn’t miss anything.”
Cameron added that he respects Damon and thought it was classy of the actor to reach out and noted that turning down a movie due to a prior commitment is an “ethical” move. “He felt compelled to call me personally and tell me; he said he didn’t want it to come from the agent — that’s an honorable guy,” Cameron says. “So all respect to Matt. I’d love to work with him someday. But that never happened. It was a conflation of different things that were happening.”
Yeah, I actually believe Cameron’s version of events. It was probably widely known at the time that Cameron was casting a male lead for an effects-heavy project, so a lot of actors between the ages of 25 to 40 were theoretically in contention. There were probably calls made about availability for various actors, Matt included. Asking about availability isn’t a firm offer though. And Cameron is right that IF Matt had done Avatar, there was no way that Damon’s backend would have been structured like that. At least Matt Damon will no longer be the guy who turned down a $250 million paycheck. That paycheck never existed, and he wasn’t even offered the role.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
