Matt Damon turned down 'Avatar' lead role, lost out on $250 mn payout

Matt Damon has revealed filmmaker James Cameron had originally offered 2009 sci-fi epic "Avatar" to him but the actor turned him down as it could have caused problems for director Paul Greengrass' "The Bourne Ultimatum".

The role of disabled former marine Jake Sully in the visual spectacle later went to Sam Worthington and the movie earned USD 2.79 billion at the global box office.

Damon said the offer included 10 per cent of the film's profits; he lost out on USD 250 million.

But for the actor the bigger regret was passing on the opportunity to work with Cameron, an iconic director who works infrequently.

"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...' So, on the subject of money..." Damon told British GQ magazine.

The Jason Bourne actor said losing out on working with Cameron "sucked and that's still brutal".

"The bigger thing still to this day, my bigger regret is - it would have caused a problem for Paul Greengrass and for all my friends on 'The Bourne Ultimatum', so I couldn't do it. But Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, 'Well, you know, I've only made six movies.'
"We're writing this movie about fracking. We're writing in the kitchen and we're on a break and I tell him the story and he goes, 'What?' And he stands up and he starts pacing in the kitchen. He goes, 'OK. OK. OK. OK. OK.'