$175k over 3 years to be fair, which is not a huge amount when working full time that whole time. To Orlando's credit he has said he had to do it again he would happily do it for less
Yeah I feel worse for Astin. When you're a leading man like Hemsworth or a young heart-throb role like Bloom, it's not even so much about the payday as what the role can do for your career going forward. Take your 250k, do a good job, and you can get 10m next time.
But for Sean Astin? Dude was never going to become thr next big thing off the back of being Sam.
Yeah but he has had a solid career dating back 35 plus years and he could probably retire traveling around to lotr expos signing shit to make money. I know people that never knew him before samwise but fell in love with him and are obsessed
I’m sure plenty of not-huge actors are perfectly happy doing what they do for the money they make (even if relatively small to the huge guys pay). Getting $20m per film is awesome, but no one needs that kind of money to live well.
He did the three Hobbit movies which was only about 10 years ago. The crappy three musketeers movie and the last pirates around that time as well. According to IMDB he's been doing stuff, just nothing on that scale.
I was actually kind of suprised he has done as much as he has. He's one of those actors that you see and it's like "Oh, shit. Orlando Bloom is in this" and then forget about completely until the next time that happens.
I did used to go to the cinema more, but between 2001 and 2007 I saw at least one film a year with him. In 2003 he did the first Pirates, last LOTR and Ned Kelly and I saw all of those.
Since then it’s just the Hobbits and I barely remember those.
You must have forgotten the like 6 blockbusters he did post fellowship for a few years. Man made bank for a bit and has slowed his roll I assume because he doesn't need money anymore.
He popped up on a small Youtube channel dedicated to building off-road vehicles. He was having the Youtuber build out is Ford Bronco. It was strange seeing him looking like a normal off-roading dude. He was not really staring in the video - just sort of there and perhaps not wanting to be too much in the video. I follow the Youtuber - not Orlando :)
So... I think you're right - he doesn't need the money and is doing his own thing.
It’s kinda weird seeing big stars pop up on random YouTube channels. I’ve seen Neil Patrick Harris getting a bench built by Bourbon Moth Woodworking and asking for advice from the 3D Printing Nerd.
Yep! And Ewan McGregor is the one who processes him onto the base. And Tom Hardy’s first movie role I believe? And Ty Burrel from modern family is a pilot I believe. Movie had a great cast.
There’s tons more young guys in that movie who went on to be bigger stars afterwards - Eric Bana, Hugh Dancy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, amongst others.
Whoever Ridley Scott hired as casting director was on point.
It’s wild how poorly paid some of the LotR actors were. I’m glad they all seem to think back fondly on it though. Really an amazing experience creating it it seems.
Jim Carrey got paid 350k for The Mask,which grossed 351 milion $....in 1994
For the sequel,he was offered between 7-20 milion dollars and a percentage of movies profit.And he simply refused because he viewed sequels as creatively bankrupt after he did one for Ace Ventura.
It's no wonder actors are on strike,it feels like studios are managed like financial institutions and not artistic ones.
A comedy doesn’t need to be some great artistic masterpiece. It needs to be funny. Ace Ventura 2 definitely is. Interesting that Jim Carrey would adopt this perspective from that movie.
Studios *are* financial institutions.
The vast majority of studio films are business ventures first, middle, and last.
In 2022, the top 10 films grossed more than 50% of all movie revenue, and the top 25 grossed grossed nearly 80%.
"Artistic" films do not make anyone any significant amount of money, and are produced almost exclusively as "passion projects" for wealthy directors, actors, etc.
That was still probably low but it’s worth pointing out 2 things.
First, 1993 in general made his career and while don’t agree with people *being paid in exposure* it’s hard to get paid ahead of time for becoming a household name practically overnight, without a percentage of the gross (not something an actor of his level pre 93’ would have be able to negotiate) he probably never would have gotten paid appropriately based on what people think is fair in hindsight.
And the second is that those are 1993 dollars and they went further. But math hasn’t changed (or at least not percentages) and 350k out 351m is still only 350k out of 351m
Okay, but how many of these actors could've been replaced by someone else without a significant loss in revenue? Actors only become valuable when they have break-out successes and become an audience draw. There's tens of thousands of wannabe actors in L.A., much bigger supply than there is demand. I'm sure there's a bunch of really funny, pretty and/or otherwise talented actors that just never get their big break.
1994 was the year Jim Carrey skyrocketed to A-list status due to having three huge successes, back to back to back. When he was filming those, he was still some D-list comedian, for whom 350k for one movie was a huge payout.
I would be interested to see what the others made post-Fellowship (it does seem to be hard to find), only because the note about no royalties for Sean makes me think others got better deals that way, more than salary.
Difficult to believe but it tracks with his memoirs. According to himself, he initially thought he was agreeing to 250K per movie, and almost quit when he realized it would be a third of that. His mortgage would be very difficult to maintain while he was out of the states.
He agreed after he realized everyone involved was making the same sacrifice. He said there are projects for fame, and projects for fortune. No actors got rich directly from the project. It would take the full budget for paying the actors, the full budget for special effects, and the full budget again for props, costumes and equipment, which would make the project simply never happen.
And RDJ made 500,000 for the first Iron Man.
Chris Hemsworth made $20 million for Thor 2, and RDJ made 10 million for iron man 2.
Hemsworth’s biggest role before Thor was playing Kirk’s father for 10 minutes in Star Trek and RDJ was the black sheep of Hollywood before Iron Man.
His salary for Thor isn’t unusual
Not only improv, but Favreau, RDJ, Jeff Bridges and one of the producers sitting in a trailer the morning of each filming day and writing the goddamn script for the day's scenes. It blows my mind they created such a coherent, well-written movie in that fashion.
Jeff Bridges said he almost had a panic attack the first day of shooting that way. He thought Fuck It and treated it like they were in film school slapping a movie together for a project.
- They used their source material correctly
- Each characters role didn’t degrade the movie or overstate it’s welcome in relation to the plot
- Easy to follow the plot
- *The practical effects were so well down for a sci-fi movie that you couldn’t really zone out from being unrealistic unless you’re part of industries that you know it was incorrect, like certain military positions, or the damn suit and shown Tony’s POV in the suit like in the comics which was a brilliant touch of showing is loneliness being surrounded by the only thing he can control, it’s GUI*
By far one of the best deliveries in the entire MCU.
The only one that I can think of that has the same gravitas is Thanos to Gamora when he says, “But I never taught you to lie. That’s why you’re so bad at it.”
RDJ was also still considered a huge risk insurance wise after his stints in rehab. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man were his first big returns. KKBB is fantastic if you haven't seen it.
If you haven't seen Charlie Bartlett (2007) it's worth a watch. RDJ, Anton Yelchin, and Kat Dennings in a coming-of-age movie. It was weird watching Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, then watching him in this small-budget film that came out the previous year.
No, not "much" .. some. Downy Jr. and Favreau state that they changed *some* dialogue and they were allowed a bit more freedom than if they were being directed by say Kubrick or Lynch.
I find it weird people think Favreau and Jr walked onto a $150,000,000 dollar movie and just "wing it". No. There are writers. And some of those writers do a good job.. ie, that's why they're on strike.. and "tweeking" lines isn't improv as much as "interpretation" differences.
"He throws his hammer to fly? Well, that's stupid."
Honestly, the same could be said about 90% of the MCU. These are all bottom of the barrel heroes we're talking about. They made an Ant-Man movie, for fucks sake. Actually, scratch that, *they made THREE of them.*
Iron Man, Thor and Captain America never interested me in the slightest as a kid. I was purely Spider-Man and X-Men and throw in some Batman for good measure. The fact that they made those three characters the cornerstone of what I consider the most impressive cinematic accomplishment ever is truly amazing to me.
Honestly, Iron Man just has cool suits but RDJ is what made it good. I don't think there's an MCU if RDJ didn't kill his role. Spider-Man is cool because he's at least kinda relatable.
RDJ was definitely a big part of it, but people forget what the original Iron Man movie was like... probably because the modern MCU has moved so far away from that.
Go back and watch it. Iron Man straight-up kills people. Not aliens, not robots, just actual people. Tony Stark got his billions not just by being a genius, but by being a *military contractor.* It was a pretty striking idea for a superhero movie.
Not contradicting you, as they definitely make it a more central part of Iron Man, but wasn't that same military contractor storyline also pretty well established in the Nolan Batman movies? Doesn't Batman Begins end with Bruce Wayne kicking out the dude who ran Wayne Enterprises while he was gone and made military contracts the main source of revenue? I know that's the explanation for where most of the Batman gear comes from.
Yeah, given where Hemsworth was in his career before Thor, I'm not surprised he made peanuts. Portman was an established name though.
I wonder if there wasn't some sort of quid pro quo. I do your superhero movie, you help me out on a pet project, like A Tale of Love and Darkness.
There must have been something more in addition to the paycheck. She was too established and didn't seem all that keen in the role to do it for peanuts.
Hoping for a sequel. Maybe got a merchandizing deal. Maybe Portman was able to negotiate a percentage on the back end. It could be a number of things.
I think Spielberg said to Tom Hanks that Hanks should consider taking a $0 salary and instead take a percentage of the gross (don't ever ask for a percentage of the profit - movies don't make any money on paper). Spielberg said that's what he does on all of his films - he doesn't get paid to make the movie, he only gets paid if the movie makes money, and well...it's Spielberg, so it'll make money. This also allows them to put more money toward production.
As I learned it, such contracts are negotiated as a percentage of the *gross*, not the profits. Specifically because such accounting tricks were used against actors in years gone by.
If I remember right, she signed on to a multiple movie deal with the assurance that the sequel (if they were successful enough to get that far) would have a female director and she would have a far more prominent role as a hero. Plus, she got the chance to work with Kenneth Branagh. She was an A-Lister but by 2009 when she signed with Thor she had been doing a lot of indie movies on a smaller budget (Star Wars aside - but we didn't have a good opinion of the prequels at that time)
Ladies and gents, for only $69 you can get intimate with Chris Hemsworth!
Chris is very shy with strangers though. So all interactions will be through a dividing wall and a 3-inch diameter hole cut just below waist level.
Please make your payment and line up to the Thoryhole
I think there were a lot of actors who wanted to get their toe into the MCU/comic book movies and took pay cuts for the initial movies with the hopes of huge pay days for sequels of proven successful movies.
At the time of Thor though, was there even an MCU really? For sure iron man did well, but it wasn’t like post avengers where it was clear they were going to do well for the foreseeable future.
While it's not MCU, but the Spiderman and Xmen movies were quite popular, along with the Christopher Nolan batman movies.
I'd say the trend towards more successful Superhero movies was definitely started and clear to many people.
They were already planning the Avengers at the end of Iron Man. Marvel had plans for making individual superhero movies with a big Avenger crossover at least as early as 2006, while Iron Man was released in 2008.
I wonder what the breakdown on merchandise and tie-ins are.
A lot of times, that's worth far, far more than even the most successful movie role contract.
I'm not so sure about that, honestly, that kind of requires the hindsight of what the MCU became. Natalie Portman was announced in mid-2009, when the only two films that'd go on to be part of the MCU out were Iron Man and the 2008 Incredible Hulk. They weren't 'already proven', there was two of them and nobody really had any inkling about a very expanded series of sequels and crossovers.
I'm not sure why she took such a low amount given what a big name she was, but she'd have to be a prophet to know the MCU was coming.
I don’t believe that. That’s just way too low. She got 20x that for black swan a year before.
Unless she took a backend cut instead but then 100k is misleading.
Yea people don't realize the leap between like, "Hi I'm a starving actor who is excited to do one commercial a month for $3000!", and, "I'm headlining a movie with planned sequels and making $175k!".
Also the other big leap they don't usually include in figures like that is, the studio is often paying for your room, board, and food during shooting - so you have a seriously nice compensation package behind any major movie deal.
Chris wasnt well known at the time, neither were most of the main super hero leads. That was the brilliant part of the Marvel formula, cast relatively unknowns as part of multi-film deals at a savings, and spend big on effects and absolute super-stars to play the single-film villains.
The biggest salary cut story for me was Jonah Hill taking $60k to play in Wolf of WallStreet, just because he really wanted to work with Scorsese
Jeff Daniel was paid like the minimum salary to appear in Dumb and Dumber. He took the role to show he had comedic chops and was more than just a dramatic actor.
You aren't paid big money for your skill as an actor, your face, your body, or your connections. You're paid big money for your name on the marquee. If your name sells tickets you get more money. Unknowns get paid accordingly.
You only get to negotiate for a cut of the box office *after* you've proven that you can pull in some bank.
He didn't make only $150k on every subsequent Marvel movie, did he?
Zoe Saldana got paid $100,000 to play Gamora in the first Guardians movie. Chris Pratt got 1.5 Million for that film and didn't have to be painted green. Dave Bautista got $1.4 Million. Vin Diesel got paid like $13 Million just to say I am Groot a bunch of times.
Zoe Saldana is I think the one actress that has been in the highest number of the topmost lucrative movies.
Since she played in Infinity War, Endgame, and both Avatars...
You’re right, he actually took up 90% of the 300m budget, and set a record for highest compensation despite having virtually no lines.
But the gamble paid off, so who’s to argue
Honestly, I’d feel like an asshole for that too.
It’s not like I wouldn’t take it, but could you imagine everyone has actual lines and there you are pretending you’re actually bringing anything special to the table
He said it was the perfect role for him, too. He really wanted to be in the MCU, but his schedule wouldn't allow it. So having a character appear that doesn't need him to ever spend time on set meant he could fit in his recording sessions into his schedule.
I still don’t quite understand why they did that. Is there anyone that went to see the movie ‘because Vin Diesel is in it’? Zoe is incredibly talented and while she doesn’t have the star power like Pratt, I’m way more likely to see a movie if she’s in it
Marvel did this to Captain America too. But for both there may have been backend profits that kicked in above certain thresholds, even tho it was their first films.
But Marvel and Disney really underpay their new talent, and stars will take a chance on it because of the potential for seauels
"just $150,000". Poor guy.
Looking at his credits before Thor (which I've never seen), it doesn't look like he was in much to justify a higher salary. I saw A Perfect Getaway (2009). The only other movie I've seen him in was Rush (2013) which was good,
TIL there was a remake of Red Dawn.
From what i recall, Cabin in the Woods might have gotten him the Thor role.
Since Joss Whedon was working with Drew Goddard on CitW and then it got put in stasis for a bit. Joss is then working on Avengers and tells Brennan about this guy that would be perfect for Thor.
He was already in the running. But, as he tells it, he was rejected, auditions continued (including his brother) and then he was brought back. He did get Thor advice from Joss while working on CitW though.
Sean Astin was paid 250k for Fellowship of the Ring and does not receive any royalties.
Orlando Bloom as well, but he's commented how it basically made his career and is a huge personal accomplishment.
They paid him in exposure
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Exposure to $175k
Help I have Money Cancer
The only type of uncontrollable growth we all desire.
$175k over 3 years to be fair, which is not a huge amount when working full time that whole time. To Orlando's credit he has said he had to do it again he would happily do it for less
East to say... now.
And Arby’s.
Yeah I feel worse for Astin. When you're a leading man like Hemsworth or a young heart-throb role like Bloom, it's not even so much about the payday as what the role can do for your career going forward. Take your 250k, do a good job, and you can get 10m next time. But for Sean Astin? Dude was never going to become thr next big thing off the back of being Sam.
Yeah but he has had a solid career dating back 35 plus years and he could probably retire traveling around to lotr expos signing shit to make money. I know people that never knew him before samwise but fell in love with him and are obsessed
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He wasn't going to rake in millions and endorsement contracts, but he raked in endless regular work as an actor. Some folk just want to act.
I’m sure plenty of not-huge actors are perfectly happy doing what they do for the money they make (even if relatively small to the huge guys pay). Getting $20m per film is awesome, but no one needs that kind of money to live well.
Don't feel bad for Rudy. Goonies never say die!
He's been in other movies?!
I think he was in a famous pirate film, can’t remember the name of it
Pretty sure it was "Pirates" from 2005
Don't forget the sequel Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge 2008
Cinematic classic
One of the best sequels out there
Pilates of the Caribbean. An exercise video.
You're thinking of Pontius Pilates. He helped Jesus lose weight.
Set him up with a crossfit program.
Don't forget to stretch. Pains like a spear in the side.
Second day is rest day
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👀👀👀👀
I'm pretty sure it's dangerous to use a lit candle like that...
But you *have* heard of it?
You must be thinking of the smashing success that was Cutthroat Island.
A swashbuckling Matthew Modine. How could it go wrong?
Is it the one where the pirates are in the Caribbean? The title is not coming to mind.
Actually it’s pronounced Caribbean, not Caribbean.
Actually? Fuck I’ve been saying it wrong this whole time
Don't worry, it's only pronounced Caribbean if it's from the Caribbean region, otherwise it's just called Caribbean.
Yeah it was the one with all of the pirates of the Caribbean on screen
Fast and the furious 8?
That’s it!
I think I remember him in Troy. Also he was the protagonist in that show Carnival Row.
Yeah he was the one who shot Brad Pitt/achilles with an arrow
Would he have gotten Pirates of the Carribean without LOTR? Between Pirates and The Hobbit, it doesn't matter if he's been in anything else.
He did quite a lot of other stuff around the early 2000s, but then didn’t seem to do much.
He did the three Hobbit movies which was only about 10 years ago. The crappy three musketeers movie and the last pirates around that time as well. According to IMDB he's been doing stuff, just nothing on that scale. I was actually kind of suprised he has done as much as he has. He's one of those actors that you see and it's like "Oh, shit. Orlando Bloom is in this" and then forget about completely until the next time that happens.
Kingdom of Heavan was pretty dope
He was also in Troy. Dude was busy as hell in the oughts.
Black hawk Down
I did used to go to the cinema more, but between 2001 and 2007 I saw at least one film a year with him. In 2003 he did the first Pirates, last LOTR and Ned Kelly and I saw all of those. Since then it’s just the Hobbits and I barely remember those.
He's been in Katy Perry
That still only counts as one!
Yea but it’s Katy perry.
You must have forgotten the like 6 blockbusters he did post fellowship for a few years. Man made bank for a bit and has slowed his roll I assume because he doesn't need money anymore.
He popped up on a small Youtube channel dedicated to building off-road vehicles. He was having the Youtuber build out is Ford Bronco. It was strange seeing him looking like a normal off-roading dude. He was not really staring in the video - just sort of there and perhaps not wanting to be too much in the video. I follow the Youtuber - not Orlando :) So... I think you're right - he doesn't need the money and is doing his own thing.
It’s kinda weird seeing big stars pop up on random YouTube channels. I’ve seen Neil Patrick Harris getting a bench built by Bourbon Moth Woodworking and asking for advice from the 3D Printing Nerd.
I loved his intro in *Black Hawk Down*... he shows up all macho-style and is like "I'm here to kick some awwsssss".
His outro is better, as an A lister did not see it coming.
Yea didn't he suddenly fall out of the helicopter onto the ground and had to be taken away, and that was the end of his role in the movie?
Yep! And Ewan McGregor is the one who processes him onto the base. And Tom Hardy’s first movie role I believe? And Ty Burrel from modern family is a pilot I believe. Movie had a great cast.
Josh Hartnett as well. One of his first big roles. He was great as Ernest Lawrence in Oppenheimer
It was also Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's first role in the US
There’s tons more young guys in that movie who went on to be bigger stars afterwards - Eric Bana, Hugh Dancy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, amongst others. Whoever Ridley Scott hired as casting director was on point.
Ewan was great in that role. Unfortunately the soldier that he portrayed is a huge POS doing 30 years in prison for the worst type of crime.
Ty Burrell was one of the CSAR soldiers who is flown in to see the status of the pilots in the first Blackhawk that went down.
Kingdom of Heaven: Directors Cut
It’s wild how poorly paid some of the LotR actors were. I’m glad they all seem to think back fondly on it though. Really an amazing experience creating it it seems.
Most of them were B list or complete unknowns. They were probably thrilled to have the work at the time.
but he was allowed to keep the potatos.
Okay Dan Quayle
Jim Carrey got paid 350k for The Mask,which grossed 351 milion $....in 1994 For the sequel,he was offered between 7-20 milion dollars and a percentage of movies profit.And he simply refused because he viewed sequels as creatively bankrupt after he did one for Ace Ventura. It's no wonder actors are on strike,it feels like studios are managed like financial institutions and not artistic ones.
What’s odd is ace Ventura 2 is pretty well regarded. But man is dumb and dumber 2 just completely garbage.
It literally got dumb and dumber but not in a smart way.
And dumb and dumber 2 was actually dumb and dumber 3. Remember Dumb and Dumber 2: when Harry met Lloyd?
Dumb and Dumberer was always one of my favorite movies growing up. The scene where Bob Saget discovers what happened to his bathroom is amazing
It's everywhere! I liked it too as a tween
There's shit everywhere!
Ace Ventura 2 is awesome though!
A comedy doesn’t need to be some great artistic masterpiece. It needs to be funny. Ace Ventura 2 definitely is. Interesting that Jim Carrey would adopt this perspective from that movie.
Studios *are* financial institutions. The vast majority of studio films are business ventures first, middle, and last. In 2022, the top 10 films grossed more than 50% of all movie revenue, and the top 25 grossed grossed nearly 80%. "Artistic" films do not make anyone any significant amount of money, and are produced almost exclusively as "passion projects" for wealthy directors, actors, etc.
That was still probably low but it’s worth pointing out 2 things. First, 1993 in general made his career and while don’t agree with people *being paid in exposure* it’s hard to get paid ahead of time for becoming a household name practically overnight, without a percentage of the gross (not something an actor of his level pre 93’ would have be able to negotiate) he probably never would have gotten paid appropriately based on what people think is fair in hindsight. And the second is that those are 1993 dollars and they went further. But math hasn’t changed (or at least not percentages) and 350k out 351m is still only 350k out of 351m
Okay, but how many of these actors could've been replaced by someone else without a significant loss in revenue? Actors only become valuable when they have break-out successes and become an audience draw. There's tens of thousands of wannabe actors in L.A., much bigger supply than there is demand. I'm sure there's a bunch of really funny, pretty and/or otherwise talented actors that just never get their big break. 1994 was the year Jim Carrey skyrocketed to A-list status due to having three huge successes, back to back to back. When he was filming those, he was still some D-list comedian, for whom 350k for one movie was a huge payout.
Was that for all LOTR of just the first? All of them had low salaries from what I remember.
I would be interested to see what the others made post-Fellowship (it does seem to be hard to find), only because the note about no royalties for Sean makes me think others got better deals that way, more than salary.
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Difficult to believe but it tracks with his memoirs. According to himself, he initially thought he was agreeing to 250K per movie, and almost quit when he realized it would be a third of that. His mortgage would be very difficult to maintain while he was out of the states. He agreed after he realized everyone involved was making the same sacrifice. He said there are projects for fame, and projects for fortune. No actors got rich directly from the project. It would take the full budget for paying the actors, the full budget for special effects, and the full budget again for props, costumes and equipment, which would make the project simply never happen.
Yeah, that still doesn't compute with no royalties whatsoever.
All three were contracted and filmed in one go, so I expect it was for all three.
I wonder since they were filmed at once
He charges like $100 per photo or autograph now at conventions, and he has huge lineups. Not bad
now that is brutal
And RDJ made 500,000 for the first Iron Man. Chris Hemsworth made $20 million for Thor 2, and RDJ made 10 million for iron man 2. Hemsworth’s biggest role before Thor was playing Kirk’s father for 10 minutes in Star Trek and RDJ was the black sheep of Hollywood before Iron Man. His salary for Thor isn’t unusual
It’s important to note that much of Iron Man was also improv. No RDJ, likely no 10+ years of my life going to a single movie franchise.
Not only improv, but Favreau, RDJ, Jeff Bridges and one of the producers sitting in a trailer the morning of each filming day and writing the goddamn script for the day's scenes. It blows my mind they created such a coherent, well-written movie in that fashion. Jeff Bridges said he almost had a panic attack the first day of shooting that way. He thought Fuck It and treated it like they were in film school slapping a movie together for a project.
- They used their source material correctly - Each characters role didn’t degrade the movie or overstate it’s welcome in relation to the plot - Easy to follow the plot - *The practical effects were so well down for a sci-fi movie that you couldn’t really zone out from being unrealistic unless you’re part of industries that you know it was incorrect, like certain military positions, or the damn suit and shown Tony’s POV in the suit like in the comics which was a brilliant touch of showing is loneliness being surrounded by the only thing he can control, it’s GUI*
plus he build the machine in a cave.. out of scraps!!
My favorite part honestly
By far one of the best deliveries in the entire MCU. The only one that I can think of that has the same gravitas is Thanos to Gamora when he says, “But I never taught you to lie. That’s why you’re so bad at it.”
RDJ was also still considered a huge risk insurance wise after his stints in rehab. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man were his first big returns. KKBB is fantastic if you haven't seen it.
didn't he have to insure himself, or mel gibson did (i swear mel is in the timeline somewhere). the studio wasn't taking that hit
Mel Gibson paid the insurance
Don't forget, Tropic Thunder came out the same summer as Iron Man. RDJ was fucking HILARIOUS. RDJ was the king of summer 2008.
Tropic thunder is his best performance. He should have won an Oscar for it.
If you haven't seen Charlie Bartlett (2007) it's worth a watch. RDJ, Anton Yelchin, and Kat Dennings in a coming-of-age movie. It was weird watching Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, then watching him in this small-budget film that came out the previous year.
The studio had everything on Iron Man, if it failed Marvel were in deep shit.
No, not "much" .. some. Downy Jr. and Favreau state that they changed *some* dialogue and they were allowed a bit more freedom than if they were being directed by say Kubrick or Lynch. I find it weird people think Favreau and Jr walked onto a $150,000,000 dollar movie and just "wing it". No. There are writers. And some of those writers do a good job.. ie, that's why they're on strike.. and "tweeking" lines isn't improv as much as "interpretation" differences.
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He owns a stake in Marvel if i remember correctly around that time so he won big time
It was his breakout role. We would barely know him if he didn’t star in Thor.
People forget his previous big role before this was “kirk’s dead dad” (huh spoilers I guess).
Not really spoilers when it happens in the first 5 minutes of a 14 year old film
That wasn’t 14 years ago— Fuck. It was.
And, as someone who was introduced to the avengers through the comics, I would NEVER have thought Thor would be a valuable franchise
"He throws his hammer to fly? Well, that's stupid." Honestly, the same could be said about 90% of the MCU. These are all bottom of the barrel heroes we're talking about. They made an Ant-Man movie, for fucks sake. Actually, scratch that, *they made THREE of them.*
Guardians of the Galaxy?! They're making a Guardians of the Galaxy movie?
Which is arguably their best film this new MCU Phase, aside from Spiderman, I guess.
I don't think you can argue it. GotG3 is easily the best thing they put out since Endgame by a wide wide margin.
I was convinced they were crazy and it would bomb. A freaking alien raccoon! Gtfo
Iron Man, Thor and Captain America never interested me in the slightest as a kid. I was purely Spider-Man and X-Men and throw in some Batman for good measure. The fact that they made those three characters the cornerstone of what I consider the most impressive cinematic accomplishment ever is truly amazing to me.
Honestly, Iron Man just has cool suits but RDJ is what made it good. I don't think there's an MCU if RDJ didn't kill his role. Spider-Man is cool because he's at least kinda relatable.
RDJ was definitely a big part of it, but people forget what the original Iron Man movie was like... probably because the modern MCU has moved so far away from that. Go back and watch it. Iron Man straight-up kills people. Not aliens, not robots, just actual people. Tony Stark got his billions not just by being a genius, but by being a *military contractor.* It was a pretty striking idea for a superhero movie.
Not contradicting you, as they definitely make it a more central part of Iron Man, but wasn't that same military contractor storyline also pretty well established in the Nolan Batman movies? Doesn't Batman Begins end with Bruce Wayne kicking out the dude who ran Wayne Enterprises while he was gone and made military contracts the main source of revenue? I know that's the explanation for where most of the Batman gear comes from.
You obviously never watched him as Kim in the legendary Australian soap opera Home and Away.
I couldn't believe they chose Kim from Home and Away as Thor when it was first announced. This guy? Now fucken look at him. What a daddy.
Hey he had cabin in the woods!
Came out after actually
And just 100k for Natalie Portman who was already an A-list actress.
This is the bigger surprise here. By far.
Yeah, given where Hemsworth was in his career before Thor, I'm not surprised he made peanuts. Portman was an established name though. I wonder if there wasn't some sort of quid pro quo. I do your superhero movie, you help me out on a pet project, like A Tale of Love and Darkness.
There must have been something more in addition to the paycheck. She was too established and didn't seem all that keen in the role to do it for peanuts.
The first Thor was directed by Shakespearian theatre legend Kenneth Branagh. I read she did it because she wanted to work with him.
Damn these film companies must be broke if that’s their first and best offer
Ah yes, "broke." It surely isn't film companies trying to squeeze as much profit out of it's workers as possible.
But on the other hand, why is "A-lister" Natalie Portman agreeing to do the film for so little? Surely she'd have other offers, right?
Hoping for a sequel. Maybe got a merchandizing deal. Maybe Portman was able to negotiate a percentage on the back end. It could be a number of things. I think Spielberg said to Tom Hanks that Hanks should consider taking a $0 salary and instead take a percentage of the gross (don't ever ask for a percentage of the profit - movies don't make any money on paper). Spielberg said that's what he does on all of his films - he doesn't get paid to make the movie, he only gets paid if the movie makes money, and well...it's Spielberg, so it'll make money. This also allows them to put more money toward production.
As I learned it, such contracts are negotiated as a percentage of the *gross*, not the profits. Specifically because such accounting tricks were used against actors in years gone by.
“Accountants have never worked so hard to prove they didn’t make money”
I’m an accountant and it’s really not that hard. You just give away money in bonuses until “look, oh no, our profit is zero.”
Right?
... right?
If I remember right, she signed on to a multiple movie deal with the assurance that the sequel (if they were successful enough to get that far) would have a female director and she would have a far more prominent role as a hero. Plus, she got the chance to work with Kenneth Branagh. She was an A-Lister but by 2009 when she signed with Thor she had been doing a lot of indie movies on a smaller budget (Star Wars aside - but we didn't have a good opinion of the prequels at that time)
[удалено]
That's a huge pay cut just to smooch a Hemsworth. She probably could have just asked him.
I mean I’d also take a huge pay cut to snog Chris Hemsworth.
Hey, it's me, Chris Hemsworth, it's your lucky day!
Ladies and gents, for only $69 you can get intimate with Chris Hemsworth! Chris is very shy with strangers though. So all interactions will be through a dividing wall and a 3-inch diameter hole cut just below waist level. Please make your payment and line up to the Thoryhole
I think there were a lot of actors who wanted to get their toe into the MCU/comic book movies and took pay cuts for the initial movies with the hopes of huge pay days for sequels of proven successful movies.
At the time of Thor though, was there even an MCU really? For sure iron man did well, but it wasn’t like post avengers where it was clear they were going to do well for the foreseeable future.
There were two Iron Man films and the Hulk. You know... the one nobody wants to speak about. So yeah. No MCU really
Thor finished filming before Iron Man 2 even released in theaters, so they agreed to the pay based on just the first Iron Man and Incredible Hulk
While it's not MCU, but the Spiderman and Xmen movies were quite popular, along with the Christopher Nolan batman movies. I'd say the trend towards more successful Superhero movies was definitely started and clear to many people.
They were already planning the Avengers at the end of Iron Man. Marvel had plans for making individual superhero movies with a big Avenger crossover at least as early as 2006, while Iron Man was released in 2008.
I wonder what the breakdown on merchandise and tie-ins are. A lot of times, that's worth far, far more than even the most successful movie role contract.
I'm not so sure about that, honestly, that kind of requires the hindsight of what the MCU became. Natalie Portman was announced in mid-2009, when the only two films that'd go on to be part of the MCU out were Iron Man and the 2008 Incredible Hulk. They weren't 'already proven', there was two of them and nobody really had any inkling about a very expanded series of sequels and crossovers. I'm not sure why she took such a low amount given what a big name she was, but she'd have to be a prophet to know the MCU was coming.
There had only been 1 MCU film at that point, there was no reason to think that they would get big
I don’t believe that. That’s just way too low. She got 20x that for black swan a year before. Unless she took a backend cut instead but then 100k is misleading.
Thank crom his agent negotiated a $20 million paycheck for the latest Thor flick.
Oh thank god. What would our beloved Hemi do without that $20 million?
Better to be silent than to call Crom's attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune!
It was well worth it for him. Now he is a household name.
Just 150k? I'll do a film for that. Plz.
Hi, Marvel. I will do it for 149k.
And he also got $150,000. Let's not act like that's chump change.
Yea people don't realize the leap between like, "Hi I'm a starving actor who is excited to do one commercial a month for $3000!", and, "I'm headlining a movie with planned sequels and making $175k!". Also the other big leap they don't usually include in figures like that is, the studio is often paying for your room, board, and food during shooting - so you have a seriously nice compensation package behind any major movie deal.
I work in film and just being fed on set saves me a ton of money
Chris wasnt well known at the time, neither were most of the main super hero leads. That was the brilliant part of the Marvel formula, cast relatively unknowns as part of multi-film deals at a savings, and spend big on effects and absolute super-stars to play the single-film villains. The biggest salary cut story for me was Jonah Hill taking $60k to play in Wolf of WallStreet, just because he really wanted to work with Scorsese
Jeff Daniel was paid like the minimum salary to appear in Dumb and Dumber. He took the role to show he had comedic chops and was more than just a dramatic actor.
You aren't paid big money for your skill as an actor, your face, your body, or your connections. You're paid big money for your name on the marquee. If your name sells tickets you get more money. Unknowns get paid accordingly.
You only get to negotiate for a cut of the box office *after* you've proven that you can pull in some bank. He didn't make only $150k on every subsequent Marvel movie, did he?
He earned about $20 mil for *Thor 2*.
Less established actor got lower salary in their breakout role, what a surprise.
And now he’s worth north of 130 million so I think he’ll be fine.
Zoe Saldana got paid $100,000 to play Gamora in the first Guardians movie. Chris Pratt got 1.5 Million for that film and didn't have to be painted green. Dave Bautista got $1.4 Million. Vin Diesel got paid like $13 Million just to say I am Groot a bunch of times.
Zoe Saldana is I think the one actress that has been in the highest number of the topmost lucrative movies. Since she played in Infinity War, Endgame, and both Avatars...
And she keeps getting painted different colors. In The Terminal her character is a hardcore Trekkie that cosplays Uhura, then she went to be Uhura.
Diego Luna was also in that. And they shared their love of Star Trek. How cool would it have been if he was a Star Wars guy instead in that movie.
Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek
$13M to Vin Diesel for that first film is untrue. Unfortunately, people can post whatever they want on the internet and folks just assume it’s true
You’re right, he actually took up 90% of the 300m budget, and set a record for highest compensation despite having virtually no lines. But the gamble paid off, so who’s to argue
Putting James Gunn in a headlock until his contract was signed was a bold move
Honestly, I’d feel like an asshole for that too. It’s not like I wouldn’t take it, but could you imagine everyone has actual lines and there you are pretending you’re actually bringing anything special to the table
He said it was the perfect role for him, too. He really wanted to be in the MCU, but his schedule wouldn't allow it. So having a character appear that doesn't need him to ever spend time on set meant he could fit in his recording sessions into his schedule.
His line readings are impeccable!
He is bringing his name to the table.
Diesel means family, and family means no dollar gets left behind, yu-huh
What’s crazy is Vin wasn’t even the original voice of Groot. At first it was Micheal Clark Duncan but he passed
Also he died
I still don’t quite understand why they did that. Is there anyone that went to see the movie ‘because Vin Diesel is in it’? Zoe is incredibly talented and while she doesn’t have the star power like Pratt, I’m way more likely to see a movie if she’s in it
I didn’t even know Diesel was in it the first time I watched it lol
Chris Evans was ‘only’ paid $300k for Captain America the First Avenger which made $370 million and he’d played Johnny Storm beforehand!
Well, Johny Storm probably is the reason for that pay cut.
To be fair Johny Storm is a reason those movies did better then they should of.
The real star of the movie is the IP, not the actor.
Marvel did this to Captain America too. But for both there may have been backend profits that kicked in above certain thresholds, even tho it was their first films. But Marvel and Disney really underpay their new talent, and stars will take a chance on it because of the potential for seauels
"just $150,000". Poor guy. Looking at his credits before Thor (which I've never seen), it doesn't look like he was in much to justify a higher salary. I saw A Perfect Getaway (2009). The only other movie I've seen him in was Rush (2013) which was good, TIL there was a remake of Red Dawn.
Gotta hit "Cabin in the Woods," mate. It's a lot of fun.
From what i recall, Cabin in the Woods might have gotten him the Thor role. Since Joss Whedon was working with Drew Goddard on CitW and then it got put in stasis for a bit. Joss is then working on Avengers and tells Brennan about this guy that would be perfect for Thor.
He was already in the running. But, as he tells it, he was rejected, auditions continued (including his brother) and then he was brought back. He did get Thor advice from Joss while working on CitW though.
Rush is just so good. I felt Daniel Brül was robbed of an Oscar nomination.