Matt Damon has been ranked among Forbes’ most bankable stars and is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. There is, however, one offer he turned down that could have brought him a cool $250 million. In 2009, when James Cameron was casting for the space epic Avatar — which remains the highest-grossing movie of all time — he offered the part of Jake Sully to Damon. Damon turned down the film because he didn’t want to get out of his contract for another Jason Bourne movie at the time. For his part, Cameron laughed off Damon’s decision, saying he completely understood the position Damon was in. Cameron’s next choice was Sam Worthington, who was paid $10 million, plus a 5% share of the film’s gross revenue. Considering the film’s massive box office success of over $2.9 billion, his earnings would have been substantial. He would go on to star in four sequels, pushing his total salary on the franchise to somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. Damon, on the other hand, has made well over $100 million from the Jason Bourne franchise. In the end, it all comes out in the wash.
