Before Matt Damon Rejected $250M Pay-Check for ‘Avatar’, Will Smith Committed Similar Financial Blunder as Actor Didn’t Want to Get Typecast in Hollywood

Matt Damon and Will Smith are among the most bankable stars in Hollywood due to their work in a variety of genres in the acting industry. While both of them had different careers, their success and their mistakes are way too similar. In addition to winning an Academy Award, they had committed similar financial blunders by choosing to let go of an opportunity that could have given them a further push.

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While the former let go of a golden egg like the Avatar franchise, Smith did a similar mistake by letting go of The Matrix franchise to play the lead in the Wild Wild West.

Will Smith Rejected The Matrix for Wild Wild West

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Back in 1999, Will Smith chose to reunite with Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld for Wild Wild West which was a straightaway box office bomb. However, he chose to play the lead role in the sci-fi Western film by rejecting the role of Neo in The Matrix.

His financial blunder was quite visible to everyone with many left wondering as to why he chose to let go of such a lucrative opportunity that later on became one of the most popular franchises in the world.

As to why he decided to let go of the role, he addressed it on his youtube channel stating that he was unimpressed with the Wachowskis (The Matrix directors) pitch. They told him to envision himself as Neo doing the action, stopping in midair while cameras rotated around him. It was less than enough to convince the Oscar-winning actor who then decided to go for the 1999 western.

However, he also revealed that he even initially declined Men in Black after getting prominence for his role in Independence Day. It was similar to what his The Legend of Bagger Vance co-star did in his acting career.

Matt Damon Left Avatar for Bourne Franchise

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It would now be known to the world that Matt Damon did the “dumbest thing an actor ever did” by turning down the role of Jake Sully in the iconic James Cameron’s Avatar. He has missed out on a $250 million payday by rejecting the sci-fi epic as the film director offered him 10% of the box office profits had he taken the role.

In a 2021 interview, he told the media,

“I will go down in history,” adding, “You will never meet an actor who turned down more money.”

Rejecting the epic franchise, he went on to portray the role of Jason Bourne in the Bourne franchise which helped him in establishing as a leading star. His role eventually went to Sam Worthington who starred alongside Zoe Saldana who portrayed Neytiri in the film. The film went on to gross over $2 billion worldwide and become the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Avatar is available on Netflix meanwhile The Matrix is available on HBO Max.

Source: Will Smith’s Youtube Channel