# In 2002, James McAvoy was “gutted” to lose out on a star-making role. It was worth over $20million

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-2002-james-mcavoy-was-gutted-to-lose-out-on-a-star-making-role-it-was-worth-over-20million/
- Published: 2026-10-24T12:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-24T13:10:29+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-20-million-dollar-star-making-role-james-mcavoy-lost-out-on-2002/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment

## Key points

- McAvoy came close to playing Will Turner.
- Orlando Bloom won the role after The Lord of the Rings.
- Bloom reportedly earned $11 million for each sequel.

## Summary

James McAvoy narrowly missed out on playing Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, a role that helped make Orlando Bloom a star. McAvoy said he was “gutted” at the time, but later felt content that his career had taken a different path.

McAvoy recalled reaching a camera test with Keira Knightley before losing the part to Bloom, who had already appeared in The Lord of the Rings. Bloom was reportedly paid about $8 million for the first Pirates film and $11 million for each of its two sequels. McAvoy later found success in projects including The Chronicles of Narnia, Atonement and X-Men: First Class.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.