Matt Damon Addresses Missing Out on Big Payday After Declining Avatar Role

Avatar is the biggest movie in the history of the box office. It's sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is one of the four highest-earning films of all time. There isn't a guaranteed money-printer quite like the Avatar franchise, a fact that actor Matt Damon is reminded of all the time. Damon turned down the lead role in the first Avatar due to a scheduling conflict. That also meant turning down the opportunity to work with director James Cameron and saying no to one of the biggest acting paydays in history.

If Damon had accepted the role of Jake Sully in the first Avatar — the character that was ultimately played by Sam Worthington — he would've received 10% of the box office backend for the film. Given Avatar's success, that would've earning him somewhere around $250 million.

Speaking to Chris Wallace, Damon opened up about turning the part down, stating that there was just no way to make it work without hurting the team making Jason Bourne.

"I'm sure it's the most money an actor has ever turned down, you know," Damon said. "I had a contract. I was in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie and I knew that we were going to need work at the end and I had to get it all the way to the finish line and I would have to leave the movie kind of early and leave them in the lurch a little big and I didn't want to do that. I desperately wanted to work with Cameron. I mean, because he works so rarely."

"I don't know how I could have left all my friends in the lurch," he added. "You know what I mean?"

Damon went on to tell the story of sharing his Avatar struggles with friend John Krasinski, when they were writing the film Promised Land together.

"I told John Krasinski, we were writing this little movie a long time ago called Promised Land, and we were in my kitchen and it was a Saturday morning and we were on a break and I tell him about Avatar and he launches himself out of the chair," Damon said. "He starts pacing the kitchen. He goes, 'Nothing in your life would be different today if you had done that movie, except you and I would be having this conversation in space.'"

James Cameron on Matt Damon's Avatar Loss

Last year, ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water's debut, Damon's comments about missing out on the movie were brought to Cameron during an interview. 

Jokingly, Cameron said that Damon needed to "get over it," since he's already "one of the biggest movie stars in the world."

Of course, Cameron also said that he'd like to get Damon a role in one of the Avatar sequels at some point, even if it's just a cameo.