James Cameron: ‘Jake Gyllenhaal and Matt Damon considered for lead role in Avatar’
Avatar director James Cameron has revealed that Jake Gyllenhaal and Matt Damon were both considered for the role of Jake Sully in the hit flick.
The 55-year-old recently released the big-budget movie, which is on course to become the highest grossing film of all time, and gave the lead role to Aussie actor Sam Worthington.
Cameron said to MTV News: “They [Gyllenhaal and Damon] were bandied about. The studio was interested in having a name, I think really just for the part of it we’re doing right now, which is: ‘How do you sell this movie? What are the handles on this thing that we can sell it to the media somehow or get media attention?’
“Well, having a name actor gets you on talk shows and all that sort of thing. So there was some value to that idea, and we explored it.”
He added: “Ultimately we kept coming back to Sam. Sam was the guy who just… he was the guy.”