Matt Demon has been a prominent Hollywood actor. In his career spanning decades, the actor appeared in several movies with successful box office numbers. As his movies collectively earned $3.88 billion at the North American box office, he went on to become one of the highest-grossing actors of all time.
There are several roles Damon was offered to appear, some are lucrative while some are designed for critical success but the actor had too many roles for very different reasons. At the premiere of his 2021 movie Stillwater, The Jason Bourne actor revealed why he gave up some brilliant roles that ended up being masterpieces.
Matt Damon Almost Sat on Director’s Chair
Matt Damon has never directed any movie to date but the actor came really close to sitting on the director’s chair. The Martian actor revealed that he was supposed to direct the 2012 film Promised Land where he played Steve Butler and co-wrote the script with John Krasinski. Later, Gus Van Sant directed the movie.
Further, he was set to direct the 2016 Oscar-nominated drama Manchester By The Sea. But when he read Kenneth Lonergan’s script, Damon realized that it has to be Lonergan. The actor told Lonergan, “Kenny, you have to direct this, this is you.”
Initially, Damon was also roped in for the role of Lee Chandler in the film but the production schedule of the actor was clashing with Ridley Scott’s sci-fi drama The Martian. But if not him, it would be Casey Affleck, brother of his long-time friend Ben Affleck. “The only person I would ever give the role to was Casey [Affleck],” Damon said. But the funding part of the film with Casey Affleck in the lead role was difficult, Damon said that producer Kimberly Steward eventually came forward, and “She risked her brand new company on it.”
Eventually, Affleck won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the $79M Drama.
James Cameron Approached Matt Damon for Avatar
Among three of the all-time highest-grossing films directed by James Cameron, the two installments of Avatar tops the list. The tale of surreal adventure in Pandora depicted in the films went on to become era-defining visual masterpieces. Damon revealed that Cameron initially approached him for the lead role in mega-blockbuster Avatar. However, the actor turned down the role despite the offer of 10% of total movie profits, the movie eventually became a global hit and grossed over $2.8 billion worldwide breaking all the existing records at the time.
“I was offered a little movie called Avatar, James Cameron offered me 10% of it. I will go down in history… you will never meet an actor who turned down more money,” Demon said.
However, the actor went on to explain that he had to turn down the role because he was shooting the Jason Bourne movies and he decided to remain in the popular action franchise taking the “moral” decision as he felt it would have been morally wrong.
Damon will appear in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated Oppenheimer, scheduled for theatrical release on 21 July 2023, and Ethan Coen’s comedy Drive-Away Dolls which is staled for 22 September 2023 release.
Source: Deadline.
