Matt Damon says turning down Avatar was dumbest decision in acting history

Matt Damon has been open about missing out on starring in the Avatar movies due to his commitment to the Bourne franchise, but now that James Cameron’s films have pulled in over $5.2 billion worldwide, he’s showing more regret than ever.

Entertainment Tonight met up with Matt Damon and actual Avatar star Zoe Saldaña, who plays Neytiri in the James Cameron movies, while the two are currently working on a project titled “Let’s Do Dinner” for Stella Artois. During the discussion, Damon called turning down Avatar–which would have netted him 10% of the movie’s box office–“the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting.” And this is the guy who starred in Stuck On You! Damon was up for Corporal Jake Sully, which ended up going to Sam Worthington.

While Saldaña isn’t exactly convinced Matt Damon’s career took a dive after brushing off Avatar, he doesn’t think he would have made it any better, saying, “Do you know what kind of movie that would’ve been if I would had been in it?” On his box office performance, he said, “I’ve probably done, like, 50 movies. I’ve never been in a movie that made $1 billion.” As per The Numbers, Damon’s highest-grossing movie domestically is The Martian, with $228 million…which is less than the first Avatar’s budget. That Ridley Scott-directed sci-fi movie is also his top earner worldwide, at $654 million…less than both Avatar movies took in domestically.

James Cameron, who is never one to shy away from offering his opinion, said last year that Matt Damon has to move on from his Avatar fantasy paycheck. While promoting The Way of Water, the director said, “He’s beating himself up over this…And I really think you know, ‘Matt you’re kind of like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it.’”

Avatar would have put somewhere around $290 million in Matt Damon’s wallet if the 10% lines up with the global take. We like to think that Damon took cameos as stage Loki in the last two Thor movies so he wouldn’t regret turning down another major franchise ever again…

How do you think Matt Damon would have done in Avatar? Give us your take in the comments section below!