Josh Gad Says He Missed Out onAvatarRole Because CGI Version of Him Looked Like 'a Tall, Overweight Smurf'

Mar. 15, 2025

Josh Gad and character from 2009’s Avatar.Photo:Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty; WETA

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty; WETA

Josh Gadis sharing why he never took a trip to Pandora.

In Gad’s new memoirIn Gad We Trust, the actor recalled that he auditioned forJames Cameron’s firstAvatarmovie in the mid-2000s while he was in the middle of hisdebut Broadway runin the musicalThe 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Gad, 43, said he auditioned forAvatarafter striking an agreement with the musical’s producer that he could leave the production if he booked a job with a film or television series.

The actor wrote that he auditioned to portray the character Norm Spellman inAvatar.Joel David Moore eventually won the part, which saw him play a human scientist with a Na’vi avatar alongsideSam Worthington’s Jake Sully.

“I put myself on tape and shortly thereafter got a call that Cameron wanted to fly me to Los Angeles for a final callback at his Lightstorm production offices (a role I apparently did not get because, while James Cameron was said to be thrilled with my audition, when I was turned into a digital Avatar I supposedly looked like a tall, overweight Smurf),” Gad wrote in his memoir.

Josh Gad on Jan. 15, 2025.Theo Wargo/Getty

Theo Wargo/Getty

Gad eventually went on to find fame on Broadway inThe Book of Mormonand on the big screen in movies like21and as the voice of the snowman Olaf in Disney’sFrozenmovies. Moore, 47, reprised his role as Norm in 2022’sAvatar: The Way of Waterand is expected to appear inAvatar: Fire and Ash, which releases in December, as well as thefourth and fifthAvatarmovies, which will release in the coming years.

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13 years passed between when filmmaker Cameron released 2009’sAvatarand whenThe Way of Wateropened in theaters. Both films rank among thehighest-grossing movies ever made. Cameron, 70, recently toldEmpire Magazinethat he intends to continue making “brave choices” with the forthcoming thirdAvatarmovie that audiences may not expect.

“It’s a tricky thing,” Cameron said. “We could be getting high on our own supply here, and everybody who looks at it [the new film] goes, ‘F—, that’s not what I signed up for.’ But if you’re not making brave choices, you’re wasting everybody’s time and money. That alone is not sufficient to create success, but it’s necessary. You’ve got to break the mold every fricking time.”

Gad, meanwhile, most recently appeared in the television seriesWolf Like Meand as the voice of a dog in the 2023 comedyStrays. He is currently working withMel Brookson asequelto Brooks' 1987 comedy classicSpaceballs.

In Gad We Trustis available now wherever books are sold.

source: people.com