Matt Damon turning down a role in Avatar was the dumbest thing an actor ever did. If he took on the part, he was offered 10 percent of the movie’s box office profits. Avatar’s director James Cameron revealed that Damon lost out on $250 million worth of profits when he turned down the lead role in the movie.
Matt Damon’s decision to turn down James Cameron’s 2009 space epic Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, with $2.9 billion worldwide, and remains one of the most what-ifs of blockbuster history. But do you know Damon is not the only actor who lost $250 million for not signing with Avatar? Another actor lost way more money after Robert Downey Jr. beat him in the audition for Iron Man.
Timothy Olyphant: The Actor Who Lost More Than Matt Damon’s Avatar‘s Offer
While speaking on The Playlist’s Binge-Worthy podcast before the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, The Mandalorian star Timothy Olyphant was honest about losing the big blockbuster film and role of Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008) to Robert Downey Jr.
Olyphant shared that while he was initially “scared to death” of auditioning for Iron Man:
“I can only tell you that I remember thinking that was the first time where, because I’m a bit of a slow learner and I think I was scared to death of the things that come with success in this business, but that was the time where I remember thinking, ‘Well, I can’t get any more grounded and so [auditioning for ‘Iron Man’] would be fun.
Olyphant thought trying out for the movie “would be fun,” why wouldn’t it be? After all, it made all the sense in the world to have Iron Man in MCU, as Tony Stark is one of the founding members and considered one of the “Big Three” core members of the Avengers.
Timothy Olyphant Would Have Almost Received $450 Million for Iron Man
Many know Olyphant from his time as Cobb Vanth in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. However, many might not know he was nearly the MCU’s Iron Avenger. Downey Jr. is so widely-known for the role of Iron Man that it’s hard for many to see anyone in place of him. Besides Timothy Olyphant, other possible candidates included Tom Cruise, Sam Rockwell, Hugh Jackman, and more.
Now we know that Olyphant was scared of giving an audition for Iron Man, but what if he did? Then it would have changed his life like it did for Robert Downey Jr.
The Iron Man actor is known for the many roles that he has played on the screen but is mainly loved for his role as Iron Man/Tony Stark. The MCU character gave Robert Downey Jr. great recognition and boosted his net worth. Downey Jr. was paid only US $500k for the first Iron Man movie. He earned US $10 million for Iron Man 2 and US $70 million for the third movie. The actor made US $453 million (total base + backend) playing Iron Man in various MCU movies.
Many fans still wonder what everything would be like if Timothy Olyphant got Iron Man instead of Robert Downey Jr. Who knows? But he definitely lost more than US $450 million, more than the sum of Matt Damon’s Avatar offer.
Timothy Olyphant can be seen on Justified: City Primeval, now streaming on FX and Hulu.
Also read: 6 Dream Cars Robert Downey Jr. is “Giving Away” Have Combined Worth of a Staggering $384,700
Source: The Direct
