'Dumbest thing in the history of acting': Matt Damon regrets turning down role in 'Avatar' that grossed over $5.2 billion

2023-05-24 14:53

'Avatar' would have earned Matt Damon 10 per cent of the film's box income

Matt Damon candidly spoke about passing up the opportunity to star in a blockbuster film, which has the 13th-highest lifetime box office earnings. Now that James Cameron's films have made over $5.2 billion globally, Damon is expressing more remorse than ever. The 52-year-old icon referred to turning down the lead role in 'Avatar' as "the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting."

Damon lamented the choice he made to decline a role in the blockbuster film while promoting Stella Artois with Zoe Saldana from the film in an interview with ET. The native of Boston would have received over $250 million for his performance opposite Saldana's character Neytiri in the James Cameron movie as Jake Sully who was played by Sam Worthington.

Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel feud: Actor called talk show host a 'terrible human being'

'The dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting'

Matt Damon who is promoting Stella Artois in a new commercial Together with Zoe Saldana from Avatar referred to the decision to reject the blockbuster, which would have earned him 10 per cent of the film's box income as "the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting." Although Saldana isn't persuaded Damon's career suffered as a result of his dismissal of Avatar, he is skeptical that he would've done better. "I don't think your career suffered because of it, trust me," he says. "Do you know what kind of movie that would've been if I had been in it?"

'I’ve never been in a movie that made $1 billion'

"I've probably done, like, 50 movies," The 52-year-old mentioned of his box office results. I’ve never been in a movie that made $1 billion.” According to The Numbers, Damon's highest-grossing domestic film is The Martian, which grossed $228 million...less than the budget of the first Avatar. That Ridley Scott-directed sci-fi film is also his highest-grossing film worldwide, making $654 million...less than both Avatar films combined, JOBlo reports.

Why did Damon decline Avatar?

One of Damon's "bigger regrets" in his career was turning down the prestigious part, he admitted to British GQ in October 2019. "Jim Cameron offered me Avatar," he stated. "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." He added, "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 per cent."'

Cameron claimed in an interview from late last year that he had made an effort to comfort Damon over the professional blunder, which would have netted the actor 10 per cent of the movie's earnings. "He's beating himself up over this," the filmmaker stated to BBC Radio. "And I really think you know, 'Matt you're kind of like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it."' He went on, "But he had to do another Bourne film which was on his runway and there was nothing we could do about that. So he had to regretfully decline."