Matt Damon was offered Avatar role and could have been $250 million richer for it

Matt Damon has revealed that James Cameron offered him the lead role in Avatar, and his life could have been very different if he said yes.

Matt, who has been pretty successful even without the role, revealed that the acclaimed director offered Matt 10% of any revenue of the film if he would agree to take part meaning he would now be worth over $250 million.

That’s gotta hurt.

‘Jim Cameron offered me Avatar. And when he offered it to me, he goes, “Now, listen. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need a name for this, a named actor. If you don’t take this, I’m gonna find an unknown actor and give it to him, because the movie doesn’t really need you.

But if you take the part, I’ll give you 10 percent of…”‘ he told GQ magazine. But although Matt has gone on to work on several award-winning films, he does regret not accepting the role which eventually went to Sam Worthington.

‘I’ve left more money on the table than any actor, actually,’ he added before admitting that ‘the bigger thing still to this day, my bigger regret is… Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, “well, you know, I’ve only made six movies.” ‘I didn’t realise that. 

He works so infrequently, but his movies, you know all of them, so it feels like he’s made more than he has. 

‘I realised in having to say no that I was probably passing on the chance to ever work with him. So that sucked and that’s still brutal. But my kids are all eating. I’m doing OK.’

Cameron’s Avatar held the top spot for highest-grossing film ever but in 2019 was finally beaten by Avengers: Endgame.

He went on to reveal that losing his record after 10 years actually gives him great hope for the industry as it proves people are still willing to spend their money and head to the cinema when a must-see film arrives instead of streaming films at home.

Avatar 2 was due to be released at the end of 2019 but Disney pushed back the release date by 12 months following a ‘major shake-up’ at the studio.

The third instalment is then expected to be released in 2023, Avatar 4 is planned for 2025, and the fifth and final instalment of the series is slated for 2027.

Source: Metro.co.uk