Matt Damon’s biggest professional regret: 'You will never meet an actor who turned down more money’

Matt Damon has done well for himself, but even he is plagued with occasional what-ifs.

"I was offered a little movie called Avatar," Damon told those present at a Cannes Film Festival masterclass over the weekend, according to Deadline. "James Cameron offered me 10 percent of it. I will go down in history ... you will never meet an actor who turned down more money."

Avatar made its world-beating debut in December 2009. What could have been Damon's leading role of Jake Sully went to Sam Worthington. The iconic sci-fi blockbuster went on to earn nine Oscar nominations and took three victories home. In March, Cameron's masterpiece reclaimed the top spot as the world's all-time highest-grossing film with $2.8 billion under its belt.

Deadline relayed that Damon's reason for passing on Avatar was "because he was shooting the Jason Bourne movies and took the 'moral' decision not [to] leave that franchise in the lurch."

The Oscar winner need not dwell on the past, though, as Stillwater received a five-minute ovation after premiering at Cannes last week: