But he very much almost was! Last year, Avatar director James Cameron revealed that Matt turned down the role of Jake Sully, which eventually went to Sam Worthington — and he missed out on a $250 million payday in the process.
In a recent Entertainment Tonight interview alongside actor Zoe Saldana — who is in the Avatar film series — Matt admitted that turning down Avatar was, in hindsight, not the best business decision.
“It’s the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting,” he admitted, even as Zoe pointed out that his career didn’t exactly “suffer” as a result.
“Do you know what kind of movie that would’ve been if I would had been in it?” he replied.
“I’ve probably done, like, 50 movies,” he went on. “I’ve never been in a movie that made $1 billion.”
Let this be a lesson to all: If life offers you Avatar, take it.
