I’m not surprised Matt Damon was so gutted… While a lot of actors say they join the industry because it’s their passion, there’s no questioning a big pay day comes at the end of a lot of jobs.
However, not every actor goes to where the money is, with Matt Damon a perfect example of that. The 53-year-old previously admitted that he turned down the chance to be paid more than any actor had ever been paid for a role… and it’s in one of the biggest films of all time.
I mean, it’s not like Damon has been struggling for roles or cash during his career, having starred in some of the biggest franchises so far.
Teen wins car by attending funeral. But it’s one franchise – and the director in particular – that he let slip by him that causes him regret.
Matt Damon turned down a massive offer. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Speaking back in 2021, Damon revealed how he actually turned down the biggest payday of his entire career by far when James Cameron offered him a certain role.
Cameron wanted Damon to star in a little film he was making called Avatar, perhaps you’ve heard of it?
What’s more, he was also willing to give up ten percent of the whole film if Damon would star in it.
But Damon explained how he ‘had to turn down Avatar’.
He said: “James Cameron offered me ten percent of Avatar if I did it, but I was working on post-production for The Bourne Ultimatum.”
So, given that the film went on to take more at the box office than any other film in history at the time, with critics praising the film and audiences blown away by the special effects, Damon would have also received a stupendous paycheque.
If he’d agreed to appear as Jake Sully – a role which ultimately went to Sam Worthington – he’d have trousered around $250 million.
Damon turned down a role in Avatar. (20th Century Fox)
In fact, he’s spoken about it a good few times, meaning it clearly has had some sort of effect on him
However, it might not be the fact that he missed out on the boat-load of money that winds him up the most.
It could be that he missed the opportunity to work with Cameron, who only makes a very select number of films.
Back in a 2019 conversation with Christian Bale for GQ he said: “I’ve left more money on the table than any actor actually.
“Cameron said to me in the course of that conversation, ‘Well, you know, I’ve only made six movies.’
“I didn’t realise that … I realised in having to say no that I was probably passing on the chance to ever work with him.
“So that sucked and that’s still brutal.”
Wendy Williams breaks down in tears as she reveals she has no money any more
Wendy Williams left the spotlight after leaving her chat show in 2021
Former broadcaster Wendy Williams was filmed breaking down in tears as she revealed she has ‘no money’ in a new trailer for her documentary.
It’s been just three years since Williams’ chat show, The Wendy Williams Show, came to an end, but the host quickly disappeared from the spotlight and left fans wondering about her wellbeing.
Now, an upcoming documentary is set to offer an insight into the life of the 59-year-old star.
Titled Where Is Wendy Williams, the two-part documentary is set to air on Lifetime and follows Williams and members of her family as she navigates life away from her chat show.
A trailer for the doc was posted on Thursday (1 February), but was deleted soon afterwards. However, the trailer was captured by a social media user and can still be found in various posts online.
In the trailer, Williams addresses the camera and reveals she has ‘no money’.
“Let me tell you something – if it happens to me, it could happen to you,” she said.
Johnny Nunez/WireImage
Williams is also seen clutching on to a pillow and crying, while her loved ones express their concern and describe how she was ‘crying out for help’.
Wendy’s son, Kevin Hunter Jr., claims his mom has ‘done a really good job at making it seem like everything’s okay’ but adds: “In reality, there’s something wrong going on.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, members of Williams’ family express concerns about people taking advantage of her, and about a financial guardianship that she was placed under in 2022.
Her sister, Wanda, gets emotional in the trailer as she says: “We are her family and you tell me that I’m not capable of taking care of my sister. What would you do? What should I do?”
Williams left her talk show as she experienced struggles with addiction, while also living with Graves’ disease.
Lifetime
The condition is an autoimmune condition which causes the thyroid to produce too much thyroid hormone. Symptoms include nervousness, anxiety and irritability, hyperactivity and mood swings.
Before leaving The Wendy Williams Show, the host announced she had been living in a sober house.
The trailer indicates that Where Is Wendy Williams? is set to be released over the course of two days, on 24 and 25 February.
The documentary is the latest project Lifetime has released about Williams, following the Wendy: What a Mess! documentary and Wendy Williams: The Movie, which were released in 2021.
Matt Damon said kissing Scarlett Johansson was ‘hell’ after she ate an onion sandwich
The pair worked together on 2011’s We Bought a Zoo
While many would dream of locking lips with Scarlett Johansson, one of her co-stars has revealed it is not as great as you may think.
Matt Damon and Johansson are pretty good pals after working together previously, though something that happened on the set of We Brought a Zoo left Damon scarred.
The heartwarming film sees Damon play a widowed dad Benjamin Mee who decides to buy a run-down zoo, in the hope of transforming it into a thriving wildlife park.
After hiring head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Johansson) sparks fly between the two wild things. But as Damon explained, the real-life kiss wasn’t as romantic on set.
The Oppenheimer actor had to kiss Johansson on the set of the 2011 film, though the intimate moment was ruined due to Johansson’s breath.
In fact, Damon went as far as saying the kiss was ‘hell’ after the Black Widow star dived into a sandwich that contained onion on her lunch break.
While it might not have been the romantic moment the filmmakers were hoping for, the awkward moment gave Damon plenty of ammunition to tease his co-star during filming.
Jim Spellman/WireImage
Speaking on LADbible TV’s Agree to Disagree, Damon explained: “For me, it’s less the co-star who you’re kissing, who you’re probably going to be friends with anyway.
“I had to kiss Scarlett Johansson – can you imagine how horrible that was for me? It was hell! What happened was, we did a shot before lunch, and it was this nice little two-shot that ended in the kiss.
“And it was really good. And we went to lunch, and she and I both thought it was over. She ate like an onion sandwich.”
But the acting pair quickly found out the smooching wasn’t over, as Damon added: “She came in, and [director] Cameron Crowe had set the camera up, and it was like a tight shot of the kiss. She goes, ‘Ah s**t! I literally just had an onion sandwich!'”
20th Century Fox
Damon then said he teased Johansson despite not even smelling her bad breath.
“Her breath smells like roses!” the actor added.
In the same interview, Damon went on to admit that he is a terrible snorer, much to the frustration of partner, Luciana Barroso.
He revealed the embarrassing bedtime habit to his co-star Emily Blunt, saying: “I snore and it drives her f**king crazy.”
Attorney files lawsuit accusing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of stalking and bugging her for movie inspiration
The attorney filed the bizarre lawsuit last week
Things are taking a bizarre turn in the showbiz world after an attorney filed a lawsuit against two actors she alleges stalked her for movie ideas.
A New York Attorney is accusing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of stalking and harassing her by bugging her home so that they could use details from her life to make films.
According to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Affleck and Damon are accused of bugging the woman’s house and hacking her devices, which caused her to fear that she would be raped or kidnapped.
It also claims that her personal identity and life experiences were used as material in films produced by the disgraced Harvey Weinstein and in SNL skits.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
This suit is just one of the slews of cases filed under the Adult Survivors Act, which enables victims to file after the statute of limitations has lapsed.
In this lawsuit, the victim claimed to be an ‘unwitting participant’ in the actors’ simulation and has accused people close to the pair of being involved too.
Affleck’s brother, his wife Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Smith, Ryan Seacrest and Weinstein are all listed in the suit as well.
Due to the alleged similarities she has seen between her life and characters on screen, the woman has also taken action against Dimension Films, Disney, Lionsgate, Warner Bros and Paramount pictures, accusing the studios of being negligent and allowing the alleged actions of Affleck and Damon to happen.
The attorney also claims that characters in these films had clothes or belongings that were identical to hers, or imitated her dislikes or likes including her music taste and a KFC she lived nearby.
Instagram/ @jlo
As far as the alleged stalking claims, this is due to the woman claiming that she saw Affleck numerous times between 2001 to 2003 and that he had been watching her.
The attorney went on to list the amount of times she claims to have seen Damon and Affleck hanging around her or outside of buildings she was in.
jlo/Instagram
Though her initial case was dismissed this year, under the New York filing she has updated her allegations and is continuing to pursue unspecified compensation for alleged emotional distress.
UNILAD has reached out to reps of Affleck, Damon, JLO, Smith and Seacrest, as well as Dimension Films, Disney, Lionsgate, Warner Bros and Paramount pictures.
Woman reveals she uses Ben Affleck and Matt Damon method for sharing money with best friend
“This is unhinged and I love it.”
People are flooding to social media in heated debate after a TikToker revealed how she handles her finances.
With Ben Affleck and Matt Damon holding a combined net worth of over $300 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, it’s fair enough someone might want to take a leaf out of their book when it comes to managing their finances.
However, a TikToker is causing quite the stir online after revealing how she shares her money with her best friend.
Earlier this year, Affleck and Damon appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast and revealed they once opened up a joint bank account with both of their names on it.
They’d met at high school and both wanted to be actors and used the funds to pay to live, alongside taking out money for auditions.
Damon noted it’s a ‘weird thing in retrospect’ but Affleck explained it was formed because they wanted to ‘help each other out and be there for each other’.
“It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go out there and do this together’.” he added.
And it’s not just Damon and Affleck who’ve had the idea either.
TikTok/ @caitlin.emiko
TikToker Caitlin Emiko – who goes by @cailtin.emiko on the platform – took to her page last week to reveal that ‘all’ her money is ‘shared with [her] best friend’.
In the video, she says: “I have shared finances for over a year now which means anything I make, she gets and anything she makes, I get as well.
“It sounds so weird when I say it. And whenever we tell people this […] they’re genuinely so shook.”
Caitlin then goes on to explain how it actually all works.
TikTok/ @caitlin.emiko
The TikToker says the pair share a joint card and joint bank account that ‘everything gets paid into’ from both of their salaries.
Then they get ‘dividends’ from that account into their own separate accounts – all split ’50/50′.
Caitlin explains the pair had previously lived together in the Gold Coast and have ‘never been the sorts of people to be funny about money’.
“If you spend so much time together, which we were spending together, then it’s like you go, I go, every day is like a different person gets the coffee or the food or whatever,” she adds.
The TikToker also notes the pair were raised ‘similarly’ so their view on money is ‘similar’ too, inviting people to ‘share their opinions’ and ask questions in the comments section.
And people certainly haven’t held back
One TikTok user simply questioned: “But why?”
“I did that and she made $0 and I made $1000 per week, she had 2 kids, I had $0. It did not end well haha,” another added.
However, a third wrote: “Ppl are QUICK to share finances w a lover & how often does that go south? best friends are typically for LIFE. it makes sense to me! I love that.”
“This is unhinged and I love it and support it,” a fourth added.
And a fifth said: “Do u guys make around the same salary ? And if u were to stop being friends how would u divide it ?”
Caitlin also clarified if the pair were ever to stop being friends, they’d divide the money ’50/50′ and also have ‘separate savings’ accounts.