Matt Damon Reveals Role He Turned Down That Was ‘The Dumbest Thing an Actor Has Ever Done’

Matt Damon is looking back on the decision he made that the Oscar winner now calls “the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting.” The Air star, 52, opened up about the chance he had to star in James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar while teaming up with the movie’s actual leading lady, Zoe Saldana, for Stella Artois’ new Let’s Do Dinner campaign.

Saldana, 44, starred opposite Sam Worthington, who played Jake Sully, in the film that grossed over $2 billion worldwide. Damon revealed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that he was initially offered the role of Sully, but turned the role down, saying, “It’s the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting.” Saldana chimed in, “I don’t think your career suffered because of it, trust me,” but Damon joked, “Do you know what kind of movie that would’ve been if I would had been in it?” 

The Good Will Hunting star also went on to praise Saldana for being several films that have hit the $2 billion mark, as the Guardians of the Galaxy star responded, “I didn’t plan it, trust me. I’ve just always felt blessed that I was picked, that I worked really hard and auditioned. I’m not Matt Damon. I don’t get to turn down Avatars.” Damon added, “I’ve probably done, like, 50 movies. I’ve never been in a movie that made $1 billion.”

Both Damon and Saldana are working together now on Stella Artois’ Let’s Do Dinner campaign, which has a portion of its proceeds benefitting Water.org, a charity Damon co-founded that brings clean water to people without it. “Stella and Water.org have partnered for the last eight years doing these [spots] and they have just been amazing partners for us,” the actor said. “We’ve been able through this partnership to reach four-and-a-half million people with clean water in the developing world. So it’s been a really wonderful partnership for us.”

Damon explained, “You couldn’t do dinner without safe, clean water. So it’s just kind of a reminder that some of these things that I think we take for granted, some of the things that are so important for all of us. So if you can engage with an issue like this, you’re hopefully helping to provide somebody in a different part of the world with the opportunity to have to take a break and focus on the important things in life rather than trying to find clean, safe water for their family.”