Matt Damon will star in one of 2026's biggest movies when he takes centre stage as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. He's also the face of the Bourne franchise and counts hits like The Martian, Interstellar, and The Departed among his many credits.
However, there's one project that Damon missed out on that still haunts him: Avatar. The actor has repeatedly said that he turned down the role of Jake Sully, revealing he was offered 10% of the movie's gross profit in exchange for his work. That would have added up to a cool $120 million when all was said and done.
It's a great story, but filmmaker James Cameron has a different take. "He was never offered the part," the Avatar: Fire and Ash director 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.'"
He went on to explain that Damon turned down Avatar almost immediately, due to a prior commitment. "'I really have to do this Jason Bourne movie,'" Cameron recalled the actor saying. "'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."
"Now what he's done is he's extrapolated 'I get 10% of the gross on all my films,'" the Terminator helmer mused. "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."
It would have been a lot of money to send his lead star's way, so we're not surprised that Cameron is quick to dismiss the idea. Now, he hopes that Damon can move on from the payday that never was. "He's off the hook and doesn't have to beat himself up anymore. Matt, it's okay, buddy! You didn't miss anything."
On a slightly more serious note, Cameron said he has a lot of respect for how Damon handled turning down Avatar (and a role that ultimately went to Sam Worthington).
"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," the filmmaker stated. "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."
Cameron is now on his third Avatar movie, as Fire and Ash arrived in theaters a few days ago. The director continues to cast doubt on returning for a fourth instalment and seems eager to shift focus to the many projects he's put on hold since the 2000s.
That includes a Terminator reboot, which Cameron recently confirmed will not feature Arnold Schwarzenegger's return as the T-800.