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James Cameron says that not only was Matt Damon never formally offered the lead in 2009's Avatar, but that he was never offered 10 percent of the film's earnings, either.
"He was never offered the part," Cameron told 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."
In a clip shared by The Hollywood Reporter, Damon says, verbatim, that Cameron offered him 10 percent of Avatar. "'The movie is the star, the idea is the star, and it’s going to work,'" Cameron allegedly said. "'But if you do it, I’ll give you 10 percent of the movie.'" The filmmaker plainly stated it "never happened," adding that what Damon said is a "conflation of different things that were happening."
Damon had already committed to playing Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity, which would go on to be a pretty successful franchise for the Bostonite and bestie of Ben Affleck. The role of Jake ultimately went to Sam Worthington, who stars opposite Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri – which was a feat in itself given that the studio really pushed Cameron to cast a famous face, rather than a then-unknown. The film, which was truly the first of its kind at the time, ultimately grossed over $2 billion against a budget of just $237 million.
Added Cameron: "What [Damon has] 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."
An extremely successful sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, hit theaters in 2022, some 13 years after the flagship film. A third sequel, Fire and Ash just hit theaters... and a fourth and a fifth film are indeed on the way. Avatar 4 is set for a 2029 release, with Avatar 5 scheduled for 2031.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is in theaters now. For more, check out our list of movie release dates.
