James Cameron Denies Matt Damon Was Offered Avatar Role

James Cameron clarifies that Matt Damon never received an official Avatar lead role offer.

No Formal Offer

Director James Cameron is setting the record straight about Matt Damon and the movie Avatar.

For years, Matt Damon has said that he was offered the lead role and 10% of the movie’s profits but turned them down.

However, Cameron recently clarified that there was never a formal offer or a contract.

They had some casual talks about working together, but they never even discussed the character or specific money details.⁴

Choosing Bourne Over Avatar

The real reason Matt Damon didn’t star in Avatar was because of his schedule. At the time, he had already promised to make another Jason Bourne movie.

Because the filming for both movies happened at the same time, he chose to keep his original promise.

Cameron said he respected Damon for calling him personally to explain the situation instead of having an agent do it. He called Damon an “honorable guy” for sticking to his commitments.

The Truth About the Money

Cameron also dismissed the idea that Damon would have received 10% of the film’s earnings. Since the first Avatar made billions of dollars, that deal would have been worth hundreds of millions.

Cameron explained that while Damon might have wanted that kind of deal, the studio would never have agreed to it.

He joked that Damon should stop feeling bad about missing out on the money because that specific deal never actually existed.¹²

A New Star for Pandora

The role of Jake Sully was eventually given to Sam Worthington.

He has since starred in the first two films and is returning for the third movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is being released in theaters today, December 19, 2025.

Even though they didn’t work together on Avatar, Cameron says he still has a lot of respect for Matt Damon and would like to work with him in the future.