“It’s the dumbest thing”: Zoe Saldana Reacts to Matt Damon Losing $250 Million After Rejecting James Cameron’s Avatar
It might have been a pivotal opportunity in Matt Damon’s career a few years ago if he had worked on Avatar. James Cameron offered The Martian actor a ‘lead’ role and 10% of the profits before the 2009 film went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
While Matt Damon and Zoe Saldana are currently collaborating on Stella Artois’ new ‘Let’s Do Dinner’ campaign, they previously had the opportunity to work together. The 52-year-old actor was given the opportunity to play the lead in Cameron’s 2009 movie, Avatar, where he would have worked with Saldana and made about $250 million.
Damon recently opened up about his “dumbest” decision, which was to decline the opportunity to star in the $2 billion worldwide box office smash Avatar. Saldana joined him in the joint interview and offered her opinion as well.
Zoe Saldana Reacts to Matt Damon Rejecting Avatar
ET visited Matt Damon and Zoe Saldana on set for their Stella Artois ‘Let’s Do Dinner’ campaign, which celebrates real connections made at the dinner table and donates a portion of the proceeds to Water.org. Damon is a co-founder of the charity, which works to provide clean water to those in need.
The Let’s Do Dinner campaign not only promotes clean water but also offers supporters a chance to win a star-studded dinner in New York City.
on the other hand, the lead role in James Cameron‘s 2009 film Avatar, where he would have starred alongside Zoe Saldana and made about $250 million, was initially offered to the 52-year-old actor. But with him rejecting the offer, Sam Worthington took on the role of Jake Sully, with Zoe Saldana playing Neytiri.
The high-budget film centered on a paraplegic Marine (Worthington) who was sent to Neytiri’s home planet of Pandora for a special mission. He soon found himself torn between carrying out his commands and defending the world that he later felt was his home.
When asked about turning down the part, Damon told ET’s Rachel Smith, “It’s the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting.”
Saldana disagreed, saying, “I don’t think your career suffered because of it.”
Damon then made a joke before praising Saldana for appearing in several movies with box office crossings of over $2 billion, such as Avatar. “Do you know what kind of movie that would’ve been if I would had been in it?”
“I didn’t plan it, trust me,” the 44-year-old actress jokingly said.
“I’ve just always felt blessed that I was picked, that I worked really hard and auditioned. I’m not Matt Damon. I don’t get to turn down Avatars.”
Matt Damon Had No Option But To Reject James Cameron’s Offer
Matt Damon declined James Cameron’s offer because he was already committed to The Bourne Ultimatum at the time. Even though he wanted to accept Cameron’s offer, he was unable to do so due to the pressure on his hands. He had few options because he couldn’t morally mistreat The Bourne franchise’s employees.
The story went viral when it was revealed that Damon had been offered the lead role in Avatar. The actor couldn’t simply be selfish. In the end, he took solace in knowing that he had made the right choice. He could sleep at night knowing he had not mistreated hundreds of workers.
In an interview with Rüdiger Sturm of The Talks, he said:
“I would have had to screw over the people working on The Bourne Ultimatum and I couldn’t do that ethically. So it’s not like I wasn’t doing anything and I just passed on Avatar. That never would have happened.”
Despite missing out on millions, Damon was of the belief that his biggest mistake was not getting to collaborate with the renowned Canadian director. He has always wanted to work with Cameron, and he would even have made the movie even without the money.
Based solely on box office results, Avatar was undeniably a huge success. The Good Will Hunting actor, however, was of the opinion that the success of the movie depends less on the money it made and more on the way it was produced.
Source- Entertainment Tonight
