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Director James Cameron has told Matt Damon to “get over” turning down 2009’s Avatar for a Bourne movie.
In 2019, the actor, 52, revealed that director Cameron had courted him to star in the sci-fi epic but turned him down, a deal that would have netted him 10 per cent of the film’s box office earnings, earning more of $250. million (£205 million).
But the Titanic filmmaker has little sympathy for the Hollywood heavyweight and has said he needs to “get over” him.
‘Get over it!’: Director James Cameron told Matt Damon to ‘get over it’ turning down Avatar in 2009 for a 2009 Bourne movie, which would have netted him more than $250 million.
In an interview with the BBC, James said: “He’s beating himself up for this. And I really think you know, “Matt, you’re like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it.”
“But he had to do another Bourne movie that was on his runway and there was nothing we could do about it. So she had to regretfully decline.
Cameron would be happy for Damon to make a cameo in a future ‘Avatar’ sequel, but wouldn’t offer him any box office take.
When asked about an appearance by Matt, the filmmaker said: ‘You have to. We have to do it to bring the world back into balance. But he doesn’t get 10 percent, fuck that.
Make up your mind: In 2019, Damon revealed that director Cameron courted him to star in the sci-fi epic but turned him down, a deal that would have netted him 10 percent of the film’s box office earnings (pictured above Bourne The Ultimatum in 2007)
Matt previously regretted the quarter billion dollar deal that has become one of his “biggest regrets” in life, as he participated in an interview with Christian Bale for british gqThe November issue in October 2019.
Talking about what happened before the 2009 film, Matt explained: “Jim Cameron offered me Avatar. And when he offered it to me, he said, ‘Now, listen. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need a name for this, an actor with Name.
“If you don’t take this, I’ll find an unknown actor and give it to him, because the movie doesn’t really need you.” But if you accept the part, I’ll give you 10 percent of [the movie’s takings].’
Star: In the end, Sam Worthington took on the lead role of Jake Sully, a paraplegic Marine who embarks on a mission to the moon Pandora, where he uses a Naʼvi avatar to explore the biosphere.
In the end, Sam Worthington took on the lead role of Jake Sully, a paraplegic Marine who embarks on a mission to the moon Pandora, where he uses a Na’vi avatar to explore the biosphere and inadvertently falls in love with Neytiri. .
Matt went on to discuss the moment he told his Promised Land co-writer John Krasinski about the deal he had turned down, adding, “He says, ‘If you had made that movie, nothing in your life would be any different.’
‘Nothing in your life would be any different at all. Except, right now, we’d be having this conversation in space.”
He said: ‘I was offered a little movie called Avatar. I will go down in history. You will never meet an actor who has turned down more money than me.
Blunt: In an interview with the BBC, James said: “He’s beating himself up for this. I really think you know, ‘Matt, you’re like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it.'”
Damon joked that he would have had enough money to send a rocket into space like tycoons Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.
The Departed actor added: “With these billionaires taking off into space, I probably would have bought a rocket ship, I don’t know.”
He added that turning down the role was probably one of his “biggest regrets” in life, as he feels he wouldn’t get the chance to work with Cameron again because the director has only made seven movies in his entire career.
‘I did not noticed it. He works infrequently, but his movies, you know them all. So it looks like he’s earned more than he’s got,” Matt admitted.
“I realized that I had to say no, that I was probably passing up the opportunity to work with him. So she sucked and is still brutal. But my children are all eating. I am doing it right.’
The first Avatar movie took almost ten years to make, and Cameron’s original idea for the movie was cooked up in 1994.
It was a groundbreaking sci-fi epic that broke all box office records in 2009, after earning $2,787,965,087 and toppling the 1996 film Titanic to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
The most recent movie, Avatar: The Way Of Water, made $434.5 million during its worldwide debut, according to studio estimates on Sunday, after its director James Cameron said it needs to make $2 billion to break even.
Big splash: Avatar: The Way Of Water made $434.5 million during its worldwide debut, according to studio estimates on Sunday, after its director James Cameron said it needs to make $2 billion to break even.