Sam Worthington Purposefully Tried To Tank His Avatar Audition

In the case of being at the right place at the right time, Sam Worthington's audition for James Cameron's "Avatar" certainly is up there with one of the best. Some time during the role being offered to the likes of Matt Damon that even he regretted to a point, an up-and-comer braved taking on the part he knew absolutely nothing about beforehand. Little did he know the audition would change his life forever and see him at the forefront of what would go on to become the most successful film of all time. Now he's back again, taking to the seas of that extravagant alien planet in the new movie, "Avatar: The Way of Water," 13 years since he first headed out there.

Much like Pandora's banshees, hindsight is an unpredictable beast, though. While he ended up in the role of the Earthling-turned-Na'vi hero, the lack of information almost cost him the part entirely. Thankfully, it was revealed that showing a slightly on edge and disgruntled energy for a character and place he knew nothing about was precisely what a world-famous filmmaker was interested in seeing more of when that one audition finally came to pass.

In an interview with Variety, Sam Worthington revealed that because of the mystery of a movie that would end up being a career breakthrough, he showed from the offset that he wasn't willing to play nice in the role of Jake Sully. Given a scene to read as the mysterious character he knew nothing about, Worthington cracked and spat his gum at the camera, reaching the end of his rope with the level of secrecy keeping him out of the loop.

As Worthington recalls it, he explained, "I was just angry. It was like, 'You're not telling me anything. This is a waste of time.'" That mindset quickly dissipated when Worthington was informed about who he was auditioning for. "Later, when they were like, 'Jim Cameron wants to meet you, and this was for his movie,' I was just like, 'Oh s***, I'm going to get in trouble.'" His fears couldn't have been further from the truth. It was walking in with a carefree attitude that edged him against the other potentials Cameron had his eye on. The rest, as they say, is blockbuster-breaking history ensuring that, in the end, that was some very expensive chewing gum.