Did Matt Damon Really Turn Down Jake Sully Role in Avatar? James Cameron Sets Record Straight
James Cameron has cast serious doubt on the claim that Matt Damon almost played Jake Sully in Avatar (a role that ended up going to Sam Worthington).
In 2019, Matt Damon lamented the fact that he turned down the role of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) in James Cameron's Avatar due to scheduling commitments with The Bourne Ultimatum and Green Zone.
Not only was he offered the lead character, but Cameron apparently sweetened the pot by offering a back-end deal involving 10 percent of the movie's profits, which, as we now know, ended up breaking $2 billion (it is still the highest-grossing movie of all time). Had Damon accepted, he would have made nearly $300 million, making it one of the biggest fumbles in Hollywood history.
Now, however, Cameron is casting serious doubt on Damon's version of events.
James Cameron says Matt Damon was "never offered" role of Jake Sully in Avatar
“He was never offered the part,” the Oscar-winning filmmaker recently said during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did? Then we wound up on a call and he said, ‘I love to explore doing a movie with you. I have a lot of respect for you as a filmmaker. [Avatar] sounds intriguing. But I really have to do this Jason Bourne movie. I’ve agreed to it, it’s a direct conflict, and so, regretfully, I have to turn it down.’ But he was never offered. There was never a deal. We never talked about the character. We never got to that level. It was simply an availability issue."
Cameron also refuted the assertion that the actor would have received a percentage of the monumental box office returns.
"Now what he’s done is he’s extrapolated ‘I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films,’" Cameron said. "And if, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn’t have happened. Trust me on that. So he’s off the hook and doesn’t have to beat himself up anymore. Matt, it’s okay, buddy! You didn’t miss anything."
Nevertheless, he did commend Damon on making a call to him personally rather than delegating the task to an underling.
"He felt compelled to call me personally and tell me; he said he didn’t want it to come from the agent—that’s an honorable guy,” Cameron finished. “So all respect to Matt. I’d love to work with him someday. But that never happened. It was a conflation of different things that were happening."
James Cameron's third Avatar movie—subtitled Fire and Ash—is now playing in theaters everywhere. Damon, meanwhile, has two major releases coming up in 2026: Joe Carnahan's The Rip (co-starring Ben Affleck) and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.
