Shockingly low movie salaries revealed: Hilary Swank, Jamie Lee Curtis

Many A-List actors and actresses have been candid different movies where the pay didn’t match the role.

Hilary Swank starred in the 1999 film Boys don’t cryreceiving it first Academy Award for performance. While Swank was applauded by her peers, she only received a salary of $3,000.

Meanwhile, when Jamie Lee Curtis was cast in the original Halloween film at the age of 19 in 1978, she was paid only $8,000. In addition to the money she earned from acting, she was tasked with staying within a budget of $200 for her character’s wardrobe.

Keep scrolling to see what other stars were paid shockingly low salaries in some big name movies:

Sean William Scott

While Sean William Scott had his breakthrough role in American Pie like Steve Stifler, his starting paycheck doesn’t match what the now cult classic is worth. Scott earned $8,000 for the entire film, which ended up grossing $235 million at the box office.

“I think so, yeah, because I remember after that I bought a used Thunderbird for $5,000 or maybe $6,000, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, baby,'” Scott said of what he did with his earnings during appearance in March 2022. on The Rich Eisen Show. “I don’t know what happened to the other $2,000, because I ended up having to work at the LA Zoo as a churro guy, so maybe it was even less than $8,000.”

Ryan Reynolds

Before making Deadpool While filming the first superhero movie, Reynolds admitted that his paycheck wasn’t what it seemed.

“No part of me thought that when Deadpool was finally greenlit, it would be a success,” the actor said in an interview for July 2024. The New York Times. “I even went from being paid to make a film just to bring it back to the screen. They wouldn’t let my co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set, so I took the little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could create a de facto script.”

Christopher Lee

Lee starred in the 1973 film, The Wicker Manand decided not to take a salary so the film could be made.

“I didn’t get paid anything. I keep telling people and they don’t believe it’s true,” he said in a 2001 documentary The Wicker Man Enigmafor The Independent. “If they had paid me my normal fee – and everyone else’s normal fee – they wouldn’t have been able to make the movie.”

Hilary Swank

“So when I did. Boys don’t cryI was 24 years old. I made $3000. You need to earn $5,000 to have health insurance. So I didn’t even know I didn’t have health insurance until I went and tried to get the prescription filled,” Swank recalled during an October 2016 appearance on Chelsea Handlerthe Netflix talk show of the same name. “They said, ‘That’s $160.’ I said, “Um, have you tried my insurance?” They said, ‘Mmm-hmm.’ I had an Oscar, no health insurance.”

Ethan Hawke

Hawke shared a June 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly that while working on Cleansing he didn’t have a big salary and even “slept on the producers’ couch” during the entire filming. The actor admitted that he believed in the premise of the horror film and wanted to be a part of it regardless of the cost.

“I never preferred to make money this way.” I decided months ago that I love Cleansing and I felt it was a great movie,” he said. “I’d be happy (even) if it bombed. I’ve had so few movies in my 20-year career that have ever made money. I’ve learned not to worry about it.”

Jeff Daniels

While Daniels played in Stupid and stupider next to Jim Carrey, Editorial office the alum reportedly had significantly less pay. Daniels earned $50,000, while Carrey reportedly received $7 million. A writer-director duo Bobby and Peter Farrelly referred to The Hollywood Reporter in November 2014, how the film studio did not want to cast Daniels in the role due to his lack of comedic background, even though the Farrelly brothers wanted him to get the part.

“The studio didn’t want him. They said, ‘Please, anyone but him. Get a comedy actor,” Bobby said. “So they offered him, as I recall, 50 grand, which was, you know, Jim gets seven million, they offered him 50 saying, ‘No, I’m not taking it,’ but he took it.”

Jamie Lee Curtis

“I made $8,000. I was making $2,000 a week, which was a fortune at the time,” Curtis said People magazine in October 2018 of its original Halloween salary, adding that the crew was small and young. “20 people, maybe 15. The oldest person was 30. Every other person was under 30. It was magic. A friend cooked someone’s meal every day and we all ate together on the ground.’

In addition to acting, Curtis was also given a $200 budget for her character’s clothes, which she used at JCPenney.

Nick Castle

Like Curtis, Castle — who played the infamous Michael Meyer — didn’t have a big paycheck for Halloween, but found the experience on set much richer.

“I got paid $25 a day for it Halloween. That was a lot at the time!” he recalled Vanity Fair in October 2018. “You have to remember: my interest in filmmaking was on set, so I could demystify the experience of filming and directing. I expected to hang around the set with no money. But hey, $25 a day and all I had to do was wear a rubber mask.”

Taraji P. Henson

While working on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button next to Brad Pitt and Cate BlanchettHenson was originally offered $100,000 for her role, despite her asking price of $500,000. After some negotiation, Henson was paid $150,000 for the role, which earned her an Academy Award nomination.

“I want to make this very clear — I’m not saying Brad or Cate shouldn’t have gotten what they got. They put donkeys in seats, so give them money. He deserves it. I’m not saying they shouldn’t get what they get,” Henson reflected in an April 2019 interview with Variety. “I only asked for half a million—that’s all. That’s all. When I did Benjamin Button, I wasn’t worth a million yet. My audience was still getting to know me. We thought we were asking for what was fair to me at the time.’

Rebel Wilson

Before Pitch Perfect, Wilson appeared Bridesmaids. In my memories, Rebel RebellionWilson revealed that she earned $3,500 for her scenes with her costars Kristen Wiig and Matt Lucas. The amount was the minimum required to enter the SAG-AFTRA union, which was enough for Wilson.

Terrence Howard

Howard claimed that aside from being paid a small fee for the lead role in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow he also received no fee for singing.

“I made $12,000 for it Hustle & Flow” said the actor in an interview for November 2023 WREG 3 news channel. “What Paramount did, instead of listing my name as Terrence Howard as the performer, they listed ‘performed by DJay.’ They owned DJay, so guess what? The performance royalties went to Paramount,” he claimed.

Jennifer Lopez

Lopez revealed that she chose not to take a salary for her performance Fraudsters. However, she produced the crime comedy.

“I didn’t get a lot of money for it. Fraudsters” she said in an interview for November 2019 GQ. “I did it for free and I made it. Like Jenny From the Block – doing what I love.”

Adam Levine

The Maroon 5 frontman debuted in 2013 in a rom-com Start again and finally decided to do it for free.

“I made this film with no money. I’m very lucky to be in this position,” Levine said in an interview with USA today in June 2014. “I want to have a good experience. I don’t want to do a lot of s- that I hate. I want to do (acting) completely differently because I have the lucky luxury of not having to think about it in terms of money.”

George Clooney

Clooney was paid $1 to write, direct and act Good night and good luckearning a total of $3. The actor later said that his desire to make the film was inspired by his father’s work ethic as a journalist.

“I say (to my dad), ‘Thanks for setting the bar so high, believing so strongly in the responsibility of information,’ and taking it to a level where it’s cost him a lot over the years,” Clooney reflects to L.A. Times in September 2005. “There were jobs he left because he wasn’t willing to compromise.”