Avatar‘s Sam Worthington says he was a finalist to play James Bond, Green Lantern
Avatar wasn't the only major franchise on Sam Worthington's dance card--James Bond and Green Lantern were also in the mix
Aux News Sam Worthington
Sam Worthington has the face that launched the world’s biggest film (well, sort of, when it wasn’t being digitally altered into extraterrestrial form), but other attempts at becoming a franchise leading man have been met with varied success. The Avatar: The Way Of Water star appeared in Clash Of The Titans and Terminator Salvation, but he teases some of the roles that got away in a new Variety profile.
One of them is James Bond, for which he claims to have been a finalist leading up to Casino Royale. Producer Barbara Broccoli even personally cut his hair ahead of his tuxedo-clad screen test in London. “I could play Bond as a killer, but I couldn’t get the debonair down for the life of me,” Worthington tells the outlet. “The suit did not fit.”
He also came close to DC’s 2011 flop Green Lantern. “It didn’t make much sense to me—the suit comes out of his skin?” The actor ponders. “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.’”
Oh, so the human resurrected as a blue alien has something to say about the logistics of Green Lantern? Ah, well, he wasn’t missing out on much there anyway. And apparently, it wasn’t the right direction Worthington wanted for his career. “You can’t create a character if there’s nothing there. On the Clash movies, that was the problem. You were getting new pages every day, and it’s too complicated,” he shares. “The movies that I did right after Avatar were great big spectacles, but I should have been looking for movies that pried a little bit more into the human condition. I was boring myself with what I was doing. And if I’m boring myself, then I’m sure as hell going to be boring an audience.”
Now older, wiser, and sober, this is Worthington’s philosophy on acting: “If I can’t bring anything to it, I’m not going to go and be involved in it. I don’t want to do that again. I don’t want to just be the action figure standing in the front. And that’s OK. It takes a lot to understand what you do want from this industry.”
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“If I can’t bring anything to it, I’m not going to go and be involved in it. I don’t want to do that again. I don’t want to just be the action figure standing in the front.”So, he’s retiring from acting?
He needs time to work on his fecal sculpting.
Impressive pelvic floor control, though.
Dude hit the gold mine with Avatar. Just stand in front of a blue screen once every ten years and James Cameron will give you money
It really doesn’t sound like a bad way to make a paycheck. If I were him I’d just sit back, collect residual checks, and have a good accountant and a nice portfolio of investments. And occasionally bug Cameron about that next Avatar movie. To, ya know, stay in the loop.
so the human resurrected as a blue alien has something to say about the logistics of Green Lantern? Ah, well, he wasn’t missing out on much there anyway. And apparently, it wasn’t the right direction Worthington wanted for his career.Oh, I think his career has gone in the exact same direction it would have if he’d been cast in Green Lantern. I was boring myself with what I was doing. And if I’m boring myself, then I’m sure as hell going to be boring an audience.Yes. And using this logic, I’m not convinced he wasn’t bored making Avatar. FTR, I don’t hate the first Avatar, but I do think a stronger lead could have elevated it (even more, if you loved it).
Finally, the Worthingtonassance can begin.
It’s the new Worthennium, it’s a great time to be a Worthead
Sam Worthington is the non-cannibal Armie Hammer. Studios invested hundreds of millions in his “star power” and audiences still don’t know who the fuck he is. Under his headshot picture it says “not pictured.”
The late 2000’s were full of studios throwing a bunch of Taylor Kitchs and Jai Courtneys at us: handsome men you forgot about while looking directly at them
Sam Worthnothington.
I know who he is! He’s Not-James-Bond and Not-Green-Lantern.
I dunno, I’d argue Armie Hammer was good, and in good movies. Was Sam Worthington, like, good in something?
He basically played himself adequately as a non-lead in a few movies that were okay (Sorry to Bother You, the Social Network), but he was the lead in like a dozen and a half movies that totally bricked.Worthington actually wasn’t bad in Under the Banner of Heaven (again, not as a lead), but that was, obviously, ages past his star moment. He’s not necessarily a horrible actor; he’s just no one’s (except for a bunch of big studios) idea of a movie star.
Fair enough! Your Hammer mileage will vary. I quite like him in Call Me By Your Name, and think he’s fun in (aforementioned brick) Man From Uncle, in addition to the other titles you mentioned. My Worthington mileage … I mean, he moves and speaks. Is he CGI? Jury’s out.
He may well fall into the Jai Courtney category: Don’t try to make him a lead, because even though he’s handsome, he’s much better as a character actor. (See also: Alec Baldwin)
Gettin’ Square – but the real standout was, as usual, David Wenham playing the quintessential Gold Coast junkie, in one of the finest court room scenes ever put onto film.
I really enjoyed Call Me By Your Name
They 3D scanned him to use as “Default Caucasian Male #3″ for video game character creation.
Sam Worthington is the Sam Worthington of actors.
Now, to be fair, we don’t know definitively that Sam Worthington is not a cannibal.
I would argue that Armie Hammer has a whole lot more talent and charisma than Worthington (even if still somewhat overrated). Just unfortunately that it seems like Hammer may be exponentially more of a trash human than Worthington, too.
‘Under his headshot picture it says “not pictured.”’I want you to know that I laughed very hard at this.
I didn’t like the dude for his generic…everything*…but he was pretty great in Under the Banner of Heaven. Surprised me.
*Also the fact that the default setting of so many video game protagonists at the time was, basically, Sam fucking Worthington
Sam fucked Worthington? Who was on top?
Oh my god, you’re right.https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ActionGenreHeroGuy
Had Worthington not starred in the original Avatar, he would’ve been featured in at least one Hallmark Christmas movie this year.
He’d have to fight off that store brand Chris Evans guy who’s in almost all of them.
In the final running, it was Daniel Craig, Sam Worthington, and a glass of milk. And producers said, “ Why do we have to choose between Daniel Craig and two glasses of milk?”
Sam Worthington in a new Star Wars project? (Blue Milk? He could play a bantha, with his extensive mocap experience.)
That seems kind of unfair to milk.
Actor tried out for part. Didn’t get it. More at 11.
He would suck as James Bond or Green Lantern.
After reading a lot of Green Lantern as a kid, watching the Ryan Reynolds movie I realized it may be impossible to make a good movie out of the character. Too powerful and too often makes things like trucks and egg beaters to solve problems when not making force fields around entire planets.
Also, he really would suck as Green Lantern.
Yeah, I’ve always preferred the Golden Age Green Lantern anyway.
“Name’s Bland, James Bland.”
Jesus, but we dodged a bullet there.
Yeah some casting directors decided he was really the ideal of generically attractive white guy and tried like hell to make him a thing.
He’s the actor version of video-game character default setting
Dammit, I just made this joke on another post. But it’s so true, it’s helped a lot by the fact that he decided his photo persona would be “unsmiling and blank”.
I guess directors view him as a blank canvas … that just stays blank, unfortunately.
Besides the blandness, he’s never able to properly cover up that Aussie accent.
nahhhh I dont think we need another look at this guy just cuz Avatar is out this week. This dude is so bland.
This is an option worth revisiting: if Daniel Craig was supposed to be a Sean Connery-esque reboot, then replacing him with a handsome but not particularly charismatic Australian would be an absolutely on-the-nose move.
They can put him in one actually quite good movie where he spends half the time being dubbed by Hugh Grant for some reason, and then let Henry Cavill age really badly through a long series of increasingly nonsensical capers.
who is this?
Suuuuuure you were, Sammy.
If I can’t bring anything to it, I’m not going to go and be involved in it.
Also the casting agents’ opinion on him.