Every actor has a role that they consider the one that got away, and Avatar: The Way of the Water star Sam Worthington has an experience of his own. Despite starring in one of the biggest franchises in the world, which is Avatar, the actor admitted he almost landed another two major roles in DC as Hal Jordan in the 2011 Green Lantern film and James Bond in the Casino Royale film.
Speaking to Variety, the Clash of the Titans actor narrated the story of how he was given the opportunity to play Green Lantern’s Hal Jordan, but given his logic at the time, he thought that character wouldn't be interesting because of his suit that doesn't make sense.
“It didn’t make much sense to me — the suit comes out of his skin? And I was like, ‘He’s got this powerful ring that can create anything. Well, what can beat the ring?’ The answer was, ‘Nothing.’ I was like, ‘Well, something needs to beat it, or it won’t be very interesting.’” he recalled.
Related: James Cameron Says He’s Trying to Parallel Avatar 2 With Star Wars And Lord of the Rings
Eventually, the role went to Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds. Despite being a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release, the Green Lantern movie still managed to highlight the talent of its stars, with real-life partners Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively headlining it.
Worthington also looked back on the missed opportunity to play James Bond just for the reason that the iconic suit did not fit him. He reminisced, “I could play Bond as a killer, but I couldn’t get the debonair down for the life of me. The suit did not fit.”
After Pierce Brosnan finished his 007 run, James Bond franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were looking for a younger star to play the peerless and notorious womanizer spy. Aside from Worthington, Man of Steel star Henry Cavill and ER actor Goran Visnjic were among the contenders to play the MI6 agent.
Prior to the release of the most-awaited sequel, Worthington landed Jake Sully in 2009 for the first Avatar film. Recently, director James Cameron revealed the reason the British-Australian actor managed to beat Chris Evans and Channing Tatum for the role.
“I really liked Channing’s appeal, I liked Chris’ appeal. They were both great, great guys. But Sam had a quality of voice and a quality of intensity. Everybody did about the same with all the material throughout the script except the final speech, where he stands and says, ‘This is our land, right now, go as fast as the wind will carry you.’ That whole thing, I would have followed him into battle and I wouldn’t have followed the other guys.” narrated Cameron.
Avatar: The Way of the Water is now showing in cinemas.
Also Read: James Cameron Sees Comparison of Avatar to Star Wars and Marvel as an Irrelevant Argument
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