Josh Gad says he wasn't cast in 'Avatar' because he looked like a 'tall overweight Smurf' as a Na'vi

Josh Gad is well known for his role as Olaf in the beloved Disney movie Frozen, but he nearly landed a part in an even more adulated animated classic.

Recounting his turbulent experience starring in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway in 2006, Gad notes in his new memoir In Gad We Trust (published Jan. 14) that he "begged the producer, David Stone, to let me go for my own mental health, but he told me that it wasn't an option. He did agree, however, to let me audition for film and TV and offered to give me an out if I booked one of those gigs.

"One of the first things I went out for was a new James Cameron movie called Avatar," Gad continues. But things didn't go according plan.

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Gad says he auditioned "to play the role of Jake Sully’s best friend and translator to the alien race known as the Na’vi."

Sully, played by Sam Worthington, is the principal star of Avatar, meaning Gad's character would've likely had an ample amount of screen time. Gad hadn't yet found that "big break" he'd been searching for at the time, his most substantive roles being William Barfée in Putnam, where he'd replaced Dan Fogler, who won a Tony for his performance, and a main role in the Fox sitcom Back To You.

Avatar would've put Gad front and center in the eyes of the moviegoing public, so he went for it. "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," he explained.

Gad describes the potential role in Avatar as "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."

Reps for Cameron did not respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

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The character as described sounds similar to Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore), who befriends Jake on Pandora and is conversant in both English and Na'vi. But neither Gad nor Cameron have confirmed whether Gad's role went as written to another actor, or if it was eventually written out of the working script for Avatar.

But even if Gad had won the role, he may not have even have been allowed to take part in the film. As he explains, at a cast party for Putnam star Celia Keenan-Bolger, the show's director James Lapine "pulled up a seat next to me and told me that he heard I was going to miss a show to audition for the movie. I thanked him for letting me out for a day. He responded that he had told the producers not to let me out, but that they had done so anyway."

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Gad continues, "Attempting to once again assuage his ego, I said, 'Well, just to be clear, I intend to finish out my run either way,' to which he responded, 'What makes you think we would even want you back?' I finally lost it. 'Then f---ing fire me, James. Fire me. But whatever this is, I’m done with it.'"

Avatar eventually released in 2009, the same year Gad finally got his big break after being tapped as a correspondent for The Daily Show. A notable role in Ed Zwick's Love & Other Drugs followed, and his principal role in Broadway's The Book of Mormon transformed him into a star.

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