We Might By no means Know the Fact About Matt Damon and James Cameron’s Foolish ‘Avatar’ Beef

Neither Matt Damon nor James Cameron is hurting for wealth or fame, so their well mannered public disagreement over Damon’s supposed near-miss with Cameron’s Avatar franchise is already fairly foolish to think about. The one factor that strains up with their tales is that sooner or later throughout Cameron’s multi-year strategy of placing collectively the primary Avatar movie, he thought Damon could be a superb match for the lead position.

The Hollywood Reporter surfaced a two-year-old video of Damon explaining, “Jim Cameron provided me 10 % of Avatar,” and—in a type of “Will Smith talks about passing on The Matrix” type of means—that “you’ll by no means meet an actor who turned down more cash than me.”

To listen to Damon inform it, he needed to say “no” as a result of on the time he was dedicated to “the Bourne film.” The primary installment in that collection, The Bourne Id, was launched in 2002; Damon additionally starred in installments that hit theaters in 2004 and 2007 forward of Avatar‘s 2009 launch.

He recalled Cameron as being “beautiful” and saying to him, “This film doesn’t actually need you; it doesn’t want a film star in any respect.” (Sam Worthington was finally forged as fundamental character Jake Sully.)

And he doubled down on the cash element, reiterating that Cameron promised him “10 % of the film” if he agreed. Avatar, after all, went on to earn almost $3 billion worldwide, nonetheless a record-setting quantity; the primary sequel, The Manner of Water, racked up well over $2 billion, and Hearth and Ash seems so as to add to the pile when it opens December 19.

Nevertheless, Cameron tells THR he has a distinct reminiscence of that long-ago dialog.

“He was by no means provided the half,” Cameron mentioned. There was a cellphone name the place they mentioned their shared need to work collectively, however Avatar wasn’t going to suit the invoice due to Damon’s Bourne scheduling conflicts, and Cameron recalled that it ended there.

“Now what he’s executed is he’s extrapolated ‘I get 10 % of the gross on all my movies’… if, in his thoughts, that’s what it could’ve taken for him to do it, then it wouldn’t have occurred.”

Nevertheless, Cameron not less than views Damon’s story with amusement, saying with the report now set straight in Cameron’s thoughts, Damon “doesn’t need to beat himself up anymore” concerning the profitable payday he believes he missed out on. Additionally, for what it’s value, Cameron mentioned he’d nonetheless like to work with Damon on a future mission sometime.

Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to count on the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and every little thing it is advisable learn about the way forward for Doctor Who.