The Hollywood story of stars finding success and going down dark paths is nothing new. In an interview with Variety, Sam Worthington opened up about his alcoholism that developed after the success of Avatar. In his days of drinking, he knew bars around the world and would drink four or five glasses of champagne before a flight. Now, as he is eight years sober, he can reflect.
Avatar blew up the then 29-year-old Sam Worthington to new heights. The highest-grossing movie ever blew him up and led to too much drinking. As he followed it up with films like Clash and Wrath of the Titans, he said “nine out of ten people couldn’t tell” that he was loaded as he was getting the work done, although he noted that he was not “doing it very well.” Once that started to dwindle as it started to hurt his career and marriage, something needed to change.
“I couldn’t see it. I thought it was normal. I didn’t like who I was. Drinking helped me get through the day.”
Sam Worthington on his success of Avatar that led to alcoholism
Things have turned around now that he is 46 years old. It took time as his post-2016 career got quiet with smaller projects. Now, this year has seen a new era for Sam Worthington between the Avatar sequel, The Way of Water, and the miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven. He has a stacked line of work ahead of him in the coming years with Avatar sequels, Kevin Costner’s Horizon, the thriller CounterPlay, the biopic Seacole, the thriller The Georgetown Project, and more.
The Way of Water is playing in some markets but will make its worldwide debut on December 16. The long-awaited sequel will see returning cast members reprise their roles after 13 years, which will set up more sequels to conclude James Cameron’s epic story.
