Sam WorthingtonKristian Dowling/The Associated Press
Australian Sam Worthington says James Cameron watched 20 seconds of a videotape he mailed him before the Academy Award-winning director made the snap decision that this was the actor he wanted to play the lead role in the billion-dollar blockbuster, Avatar.
Then, Worthington explained Tuesday, it took the intrepid Cameron six months to convince the studios to take a chance on this relatively unknown guy who had been working as a brick layer before he fell into acting almost by accident.
When Cameron told Worthington that all it took was a 20-second clip, the Australian said he told him, "You're fucking ballsy."
But Cameron "goes with his gut," adds Worthington, who is in Toronto with his latest film, John Madden's psychological thriller, The Debt, co-starring Helen Mirren.
"Before we starting shooting Avatar, we hung out with each other for six months. We're best mates now," Worthington says of him and Cameron.