<p id=”par-1_58″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/matt-damon/”>Matt Damon</a> has starred in a roster of successful film projects <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/matt-damon-shared-having-family-changed-approach-jason-bourne.html/”>like <em>The Bourne Trilogy</em></a><em>, The Departed</em>, and others. But not every project of his could be a homerun. However, there was one feature he knew would be a disaster while he was filming it. And unfortunately for the star, there was nothing he could do about it.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-matt-damon-knew-early-on-this-movie-wouldn-t-be-good”>Matt Damon knew early on this movie wouldn’t be good</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Avatar-Matt-Damon.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Matt Damon writing at the Beiging premiere of ‘The Great Wall’.” class=”wp-image-3747147″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Matt Damon | Visual China Group / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_109″>Despite his impressive filmography, even Damon isn’t immune to starring in a few Hollywood clunkers every now and then. But for Damon, the only thing worse than starring in a Hollywood bomb, is doing a movie that he knows is going to fail while filming. It was a horrific experience he had to live through when he did 2017’s <em>The Great Wall</em>. The critically and commercially disappointing feature saw Damon as an ancient mercenary who helps Chinese warriors battle a mysterious force. But Damon could see <em>The Great Wall</em>’s lackluster performance coming from a mile away after the film’s director was forced to compromise his story by financial backers.</p>
<p id=”par-3_28″>“I was like, this is exactly how disasters happen,” Damon once said on the <em><a href=”http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1247-matt-damon”>WTF with Marc Maron</a> </em>podcast. “It doesn’t cohere. It doesn’t work as a movie.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_22″>So Damon had to do the rest of the shoot knowing the film wouldn’t turn out the way anyone wanted it to.</p>
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<p id=”par-5_64″>“I came to consider that the definition of a professional actor; knowing you’re in a turkey and going, ‘OK, I’ve got four more months. It’s the up at dawn siege on Hamburger Hill. I am definitely going to die here, but I’m doing it,’” he said. “That’s as s***ty as you can feel creatively, I think. I hope to never have that feeling again.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_81″>But there were certain criticisms of the movie that Damon might’ve still heard even if the movie managed to stick to its original premise. <em>The Great Wall </em>was accused of perpetuating the white savior concept seen in many stories that some considered tone deaf. When reading the script, it wasn’t a complex that Damon overlooked, either. He even compared it to other movies that were once accused of the white savior trope like <em>Avatar</em>, a <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/sam-worthington-get-250-million-deal-matt-damon-rejected-avatar.html/”>film he has some history with</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-7_49″>“I saw the movie as the exact same plot as <em>Lawrence of Arabia</em>, <em>Dances With Wolves</em> [and] <em>Avatar,”</em> he continued. “It’s an outsider comes into a new culture, finds value in the culture, brings some skill from the outside that aids them in their fight against whatever and they’re all changed forever.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-james-cameron-tried-to-move-away-from-the-avatar-white-savior-trope-with-the-sequel”>James Cameron tried to move away from the ‘Avatar’ white savior trope with the sequel</h2>
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<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
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Matt Damon Once Shared His Biggest ‘Good Will Hunting’ Regret </a>
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<p id=”par-8_69″>Cameron was well aware of the white savior criticisms leveled at his film. But <em>Avatar </em>may have some wriggle room when it comes to this looked-down-upon stereotype. Cameron’s Jake Sully, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/zoe-saldana-felt-kissing-sam-worthington-avatar-ridiculous-thing-ever-done.html/”>played by Sam Worthington</a>, is interfering in the affairs of a tribe of fictional aliens rather than real people. Still, Cameron acknowledged the criticism, and felt that the sequel <em>The Way of Water </em>was a perfect response to it.</p>
<p id=”par-9_46″>“Jake is just a father, he’s part of the tribe, he’s much more submissive in a way,” Cameron once told <a href=”https://www.unilad.com/film-and-tv/james-cameron-addresses-avatar-racism-accusations-477594-20221209″>Unilad</a>. “When he shows up to the Metkayina as a refugee and says ‘take us in’, he’s not running things. He doesn’t want to run things.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_21″>However, Cameron isn’t quick to brush off conversations of race when it comes to the <em>Avatar </em>franchise. Rather, he welcomes it.</p>
<p id=”par-11_19″>“I think the important thing is to listen and to be sensitive to issues that people have,” he said.</p>
<p id=”par-12_72″>“Here’s my philosophy in general,” Cameron added. “The people who have been victimized historically are always right. It’s not up to me, speaking from a perspective of white privilege, if you will, to tell them that they’re wrong. I have to listen. I have to say, ‘Okay, if that’s what you’re feeling, that’s what you’re feeling.’ And it has validity. It’s pointless for me to say, ‘Well, that was never my intention.’”</p>