James Cameron shoots down Matt Damon’s viral Avatar claim: ‘He was never offered the part’

Damon has spoken for years about his regret over turning down the blockbuster

James Cameron has revealed the truth behind Matt Damon’s story about rejecting the lead role in Avatar and missing out on a payout worth over a quarter of a billion dollars.

For years, Damon has repeated the same regretful tale in press junkets and sit-down interviews: Cameron approached the actor for the role of Jake Sully in the 2009 hit film and reportedly offered him 10 percent of whatever the movie made.

Damon has claimed he declined the job because he was shooting a Bourne franchise movie at the time. The blockbuster went on to gross $2.92 billion worldwide, meaning that if what Damon said was true, he potentially turned down hundreds of millions of dollars by rejecting the movie.

But Cameron remembers the situation quite differently, he told The Hollywood Reporter.

“He was never offered the part,” the director told the outlet in an article published Thursday. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did?” The Oscar-winning director said that in a conversation over the phone, Damon said he would love to do the movie, but he was forced to turn it down because of his conflicting schedule with The Bourne Ultimatum and The Green Zone.

“But he was never offered,” Cameron said. “There was never a deal. We never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue.” The role went to Sam Worthington, who has starred in the franchise’s two sequels as well.

James Cameron has called out Matt Damon for over exaggerating the story of his near involvement in the Avatar franchise (Getty Images)

The Titanic creator said Damon had “extrapolated” the part of the claim where Cameron offered him 10 percent of the gross, adding: “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.”

Damon did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment.

The Oscar-winning actor first revealed his story about missing the last train to Pandora in a 2019 interview when he said, “I’ve left more money on the table than any actor.”

He told GQ at the time: “Jim Cameron offered me Avatar. And when he offered it to me, he goes, ‘Now, listen. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need a name for this, a named actor. If you don’t take this, I’m going to find an unknown actor and give it to him, because the movie doesn’t really need you. But if you take the part, I’ll give you ten per cent of...’” he then trailed off, but the reporter confirmed that he meant a tenth of the movie’s gross.

The story had been circulating for years when Cameron finally responded to it while on the press tour for Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, teasing, “He’s beating himself up over this. And I really think you know, ‘Matt, you’re kind of like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it.’”