Matt Damon Reveals Why He Passed on Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight

Rahul MajumdarWed, July 29, 2026 at 7:29 PM UTC

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Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Before he played Odysseus, Matt Damon was almost Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knight. The actor recently explained why he passed on the role of playing Two-Face in the iconic Batman movie. He opened up about passing on The Dark Knight and other iconic movies in a recent interview.

Speaking with Josh Horowitz of Happy Sad Confused, Damon said, “Well, Dark Knight was a small role that I was offered. It obviously wasn’t Chris or Heath’s part.” When asked to confirm if he was offered the role of Harvey, he affirmed it, adding, “Sometimes you look at a role, and you’re like, ‘Ah, it’s good. It’s a good role in a great movie.’ I mean, I subsequently did a small role in one of Chris’ movies in Interstellar.”

Damon explained that he was playing a role in another film at the time which clashed with his ability to play Dent.

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Other blockbuster opportunities Matt Damon passed on

In the same interview, Matt Damon spoke about other iconic roles and films he passed on, which include James Cameron’s Avatar, Brokeback Mountain, Dead Poets Society, Pearl Harbor, and more.

In the case of Avatar, Damon infamously passed on the opportunity to earn 10% of the film’s box office collections along with the role of Jake Sully. “At this point I passed on the biggest payday in the history of [film], I mean accidentally, so I can never do worse financially,” he said with a laugh.

Damon eventually worked with Nolan in various films, including playing Dr. Mann in Interstellar and Lieutenant Leslie Groves Jr. in Oppenheimer. He eventually landed the lead role of Odysseus in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. Since its release earlier this month, the film has grossed $666 million.

The Odyssey is playing in theaters now, with a 94% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes with over 450 reviews.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”