Avatar Fire and Ash director James Cameron has denied all claims Matt Damon made about the film. The Martian star had alleged that he skipped out on a massive paycheck and recurring returns when he reportedly denied the role in the Avatar franchise.
As the video resurfaced again, Damon claimed that he was offered the lead role of character Jake Sully in 2009. In exchange, he was also set to receive a whopping 10 per cent of the $2.9 billion blockbuster. However, the film’s role went to Sam Worthington, who we know as Jake Sully since 2009.
Matt Damon’s claims on Avatar
In the now-viral video, Matt Damon shared, “Jim Cameron called me — he offered me 10 per cent of Avatar,” in the clips. “You will never meet an actor who turned down more money than me…I was in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie, and I would have to leave the movie kind of early and leave them in the lurch a little bit, and I didn’t want to do that…[Cameron] was really lovely, he said: ‘If you don’t do this, this movie doesn’t really need you. It doesn’t need a movie star at all. The movie is the star, the idea is the star, and it’s going to work. But if you do it, I’ll give you 10 per cent of the movie.’”
Cameron negates claims
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, the Avatar Fire and Ash director revealed that Matt Damon was never actually offered the part. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did?,” he remarked. Further, he revealed that Damon and Cameron did end up on a call where the Jason Bourne star reportedly 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.”
Explaining how he turned down the movie without an offer, James Cameron clarified how “there was never a deal.” He overtly mentioned in the report,” we never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue.”
About the viral 10 per cent claims, Cameron remarked, “Now what he’s 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.”
‘You didn’t miss anything’
Cameron also playfully added, “Matt, it’s okay, buddy! You didn’t miss anything!” He went to praise Damon’s gesture of calling him personally to inform him of his unavailability. He expressed a clear intention to work with him someday. He clarified and said, “It was a conflation of different things that were happening.”
Interestingly, Avatar Fire and Ash aims for a $340-380 million box office collection on its debut weekend. This would make it Hollywood’s biggest opening after Disney’s Zootopia 2 debuted at $560 million globally. It left behind the 2022 Avatar film ‘The Way of Water’ by more than $200 million. Avatar: Fire and Ash has a runtime of over three hours, and online reviews have called it the ‘longest movie’ they have ever watched. In fact, while some movie reviews praise the visuals, some adhere to the ‘repetitive plot’ narrative.
