Matt Damon Turned Down James Cameron's 'Avatar,' 10% Of Profits For This Movie

Matt Damon once turned down a massive payday.

The sequel of the hit movie "Avatar" is on its way. Damon, who was once offered the role of Jake Sully in director James Cameron's film, revealed during his Cannes Film Festival masterclass last week that he could have gotten potentially hundreds of millions had he taken the offer.

"I was offered a little movie called 'Avatar,' James Cameron offered me 10% of it," Damon was quoted by Deadline as telling the audience. "I will go down in history… you will never meet an actor who turned down more money."

"Avatar's" net profits were estimated to be around $1.2 billion — prior to its re-release in China earlier this year — so Damon could have earned around $120 million had he taken on the project, according to Entertainment Weekly.

But the actor couldn't sign on for Cameron's 2009 epic sci-fi movie because he was already committed to the "Jason Bourne" movies. When the role was offered to him, Damon was shooting the action-thriller film.

Damon stressed that he took the "moral" decision to not leave the franchise. Meanwhile, Cameron moved on by offering the role to Sam Worthington, who, according to Entertainment Weekly, was living in his car when the director cast him in 2007.

However, Deadline suggested that he likely didn't get the same deal offered to Damon.

According to "The Martian" actor, he shared that story with regular collaborator John Krasinski, who purportedly told him, "Nothing would be different in your life if you had done 'Avatar,' except you and me would be having this conversation in space."

When the audience pointed out that the "Avatar" sequels are in the works, the "Ocean's Eleven" star jokingly responded, "There’s sequels? Oh my god."

Meanwhile, according to Cameron, he also considered "Captain America" star Chris Evans and "Magic Mike" actor Channing Tatum for the role. However, Worthington stood out among the three.

"I really liked Channing’s appeal, I liked Chris’ appeal. The were both great, great guys," Cameron told Empire. "But Sam had a quality of voice and a quality of intensity. Everybody did about the same with all the material throughout the script except the final speech, where he stands and says, ‘This is our land, right now, go as fast as the wind will carry you.’ That whole thing, I would have followed him into battle and I wouldn’t have followed the other guys."

"Avatar 2" is coming out on Dec. 16, 2022.