Matt Damon has admitted that he turned down the chance to be paid more than any actor had ever been paid for a role in one of the biggest films of all time.
Here's Matt having a chat with another huge star - Christian Bale - for us a few years back:
To be fair, it’s not as if Damon has been struggling for roles or cash during his career, having taken on some of the biggest characters in cinema and starred in some of the biggest franchises.
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However, it’s one franchise – and the director in particular – that he let slip by him that causes him regret.
Damon, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay work on Good Will Hunting alongside Ben Affleck, spoke back in 2021 about how he actually turned down the biggest payday of his entire career by far when James Cameron came a-calling.
Cameron wanted Damon to star in a little film he was making called Avatar, perhaps you’ve heard of it?
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What’s more, he was willing to give up 10 percent of the whole film if Damon would star in it.
However, he explained: "I had to turn down Avatar.
"James Cameron offered me 10 percent of Avatar if I did it, but I was working on post-production for The Bourne Ultimatum."
So, given that the film went on to take more at the box office than any other film in history at the time, with critics praising the film and audiences blown away by the special effects, Damon would have also received a stupendous paycheque.
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If he'd agreed to appear as Jake Sully - a role which ultimately went to Sam Worthington - he'd have trousered around $250 million for appearing in the film.
In fact, he’s spoken about it a good few times, meaning that it clearly has had some sort of effect on him.
However, it might not be the fact that he missed out on the boat-load of money that winds him up the most.
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It could be that he missed the opportunity to work with James Cameron, who only makes a very select number of films.
Back in a 2019 conversation with Christian Bale for GQ he said: "I've left more money on the table than any actor actually.
"Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, 'Well, you know, I've only made six movies.'
"I didn't realise that ... I realised in having to say no that I was probably passing on the chance to ever work with him.
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“So that sucked and that's still brutal."
Yes, and when you throw in the $250 million there as well, that’s got to really sting.
Still, it’s not like the Bourne franchise wasn’t an incredibly successful and lucrative franchise, so we won’t need to hold a whip-around for Matt Damon this Christmas.
Topics: Celebrity, Matt Damon, TV and Film, Money
Tom Wood