17 Movie Roles With Surprisingly Low Pay
You might assume that every movie role leads to a massive payday, but sometimes established actors willingly take lower salaries (whether in general, when compared to their typical rates, or when compared to what their costars make) for the opportunity to be part of a project they believe in.
Here are 17 actors who took surprisingly low salaries for their roles:
1.
In 2005, George Clooney told the LA Times that Good Night, and Good Luck was “ultimately a love letter to [his] old man.” He used his “enviable position of being able to force studios to make films that they wouldn’t ordinarily make” to get the movie into production, and he financed it himself. He said, “I got a dollar for writing the script. I had to endorse my check for directing and turn in my acting salary. Grant [Heslov, co-writer, actor, and producer ] and I each made a buck for doing it.”
2.
In 2019, Jennifer Lopez, who played Ramona in Hustlers, told GQ, “I do things because I love them. I didn’t get paid a whole bunch of money for Hustlers. I did it for free and produced it. I bank on myself, you know? Like Jenny From the Block — I do what I love.”
3.
In 2022, Christian Bale told GQ that, when he played Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, “they had paid [him] the absolute minimum they were legally allowed to pay [him].” He said, “And I had a house that I was sharing with my dad and my sister, and that was getting repossessed. So the first thing was, ‘Holy crap. I’ve got to get a bit of money,’ because I’ve got American Psycho done, but I remember one time sitting in the make-up trailer, and the make-up artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them. And so that was my motivation after that. It was just, ‘I got to get enough that the house doesn’t get repossessed.'”
However, Christian was extremely dedicated to landing the role. In 2012, he told GQ, “I was told they perhaps had someone else in mind, but I kept on at it like a crazy bastard. I mean, they had Leonardo DiCaprio all primed for it, but I just kept rehearsing, training, and preparing. People would look at me sort of worryingly, and I’d stare them in the face and say, ‘Listen, I am definitely making this movie!’ A look of pity would fall across their faces — ‘Christian, I’m sorry but you’re not. What the hell are you doing?’ When Leo dropped out, the casting guys were like, ‘What happened to that crazy, obsessed guy we saw months ago?’ And people said, ‘That crazy fucker is still preparing. He hasn’t taken any other jobs.’ Eventually, they came back to me.”
4.
Jon Heder was “initially” paid $1,000 to play the titular role in Napoleon Dynamite. However, after the movie began raking in millions of dollars, he was able to renegotiate for his fair share. In 2010, he told the New Zealand Herald, “They went a little bit higher.”
The movie was filmed in 2003. Adjusted for inflation, his initial salary is worth about $1,727.41 today.
5.
Following the success of movies like The Notebook, Ryan Gosling commanded seven-figure salaries for movie roles. However, when he played Dan Dunne in Half Nelson, he accepted a salary to scale, which amounted to about $1,000 a week, plus gross points. In 2006, he told W Magazine, “I read a lot of scripts. In my opinion, most of them aren’t good or aren’t about people. So I keep waiting, and I read and read until I find something that was written by a person about a person. It’s not like I have some real fancy requirement. That’s it.” The role earned him an Oscar nomination.
Shooting reportedly took 23 days, so he made roughly $3,286 total. The movie came out in 2006, so, adjusted for inflation, his salary is worth about $6,184.05 total, or $1,565.65 per week today.
6.
When Jim Carrey played Carl Allen in Yes Man, he reportedly forewent an upfront salary and took a 36.2 percent stake in the film’s profits instead. At the time, a Hollywood insider told the NY Mag that the deal was “a new kind of stupid.” The outlet estimated he’d make about $9.4 million (instead of his usual $20 million rate), but according to Virgin Radio UK, he reportedly made an estimated $35-50 million from the deal.
The movie came out in 2008, so, adjusted for inflation, his estimated earnings are worth about $52.9-75.6 million today.
7.
Per People, in her 2024 memoir Rebel Rising, Rebel Wilson said that booking the role of Brynn in Bridesmaids was the “first opportunity in Hollywood that changed the trajectory of [her] whole career.” She made $3,500 for the role, which was only enough to cover her fee to join SAG-AFTRA. She wrote, “[It] didn’t matter to me…The experience was everything!”
The movie premiered in 2011. Adjusted for inflation, her salary is worth about $4,943.61 today.
8.
Producing and starring in Deadpool was truly a passion project for Ryan Reynolds. In 2024, he told the New York Times, “When I finally got to make it, it had been almost 10 years at that point. No part of me was thinking when Deadpool was finally greenlit that this would be a success. I even let go of getting paid to do the movie just to put it back on the screen. They wouldn’t allow 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 form a de facto writers’ room. It was a lesson in a couple of senses. I think one of the great enemies of creativity is too much time and money, and that movie had neither time nor money. It really fostered focusing on character over spectacle, which is a little harder to execute in a comic-book movie.”
9.
Barkhad Abdi, who made his acting debut as Abduwali Muse in Captain Phillips, answered an open casting call ad for Somali actors at his community center. The film had a $55 million budget, but he was only paid $65,000. After filming wrapped, he got a job selling cell phones at his brother’s store, but he quit the day of the movie premiere. In 2014, he told the New Yorker, “How I thought about it was, like, When the movie came out, reviews either gonna be good or bad. Either way, I cannot be working here.” The reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and the film was a commercial success. Barkhad won a BAFTA, and he was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe. He continues to have a successful acting career.
The movie was filmed in 2012. Adjusted for inflation, Barkhad’s salary is worth about $90,014.54 today.
10.
According to Screen Rant, Christopher Lee starred as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man for free. The movie’s budget was too low to afford his typical rate, but the actor loved the project — and the part that had been written specifically for him — so much that he forwent a payday. It ended up being his favorite role of his career.
11.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile director Joe Berlinger told Harper’s Bazaar that Zac Efron took “a 99 percent pay cut” to play Ted Bundy. The director said, “Zac was my first choice for the role. If I’m trying to present someone who is perceived by others as too good-looking, too nice, and too charming to be a vicious serial killer, why not take Zac’s real-life persona and incorporate it into the pastiche of the film? The fact that Zac was willing to allow me to play with that image demonstrated to me his commitment to the film.” The exact amount Zac was paid for the role hasn’t been publicly revealed.
12.
Jonah Hill was paid $60,000 “before commissions and taxes” for the role of Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street. In comparison, lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio made $10 million. In 2014, Jonah told The Howard Stern Show, “They gave me the lowest amount of money possible…That was their offer, and I said, ‘I will sign the paper tonight. Fax them the papers tonight. I want to sign them tonight before they change their mind. I want to sign them before I go to sleep tonight so they legally can’t change their mind.’ I would sell my house and give him all my money to work for [director Martin Scorsese]. This isn’t what you make money for. You do 22 Jump Street or you do other things, and you can pay your rent. I would have done anything in the world. I would do it again in a second. This isn’t about money. You should do things that you care about.”
The movie was filmed in 2012. Adjusted for inflation, Jonah’s $60,000 is worth about $82,734.36 today.
13.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kristen Stewart booked the role of Marylou in On the Road right before Twilight shot her to stardom. Production maneuvered filming to accommodate her schedule for the franchise. Director Walter Salles was relieved she remained dedicated to the project, despite the fact that they could only pay her about 1% of her $20 million Breaking Dawn — Part 2 salary. The entire On the Road budget was a little over $20 million.
The movie was filmed in 2010, and Kristen was paid about $200,000. Adjusted for inflation, that’s worth about $291,024.77 today.
14.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ethan Hawke accepted a small upfront salary bordering on nothing to play James Sandin in The Purge in exchange for a percentage of the profits. However, he didn’t care if the movie made a ton of money. In 2013, Ethan told Entertainment Weekly, “I’ve never really prioritized making money that way. I decided months ago that I loved The Purge, and I felt it was a cool movie. I would love it [even] if it bombed. I’ve had so few movies ever make money in my 20-year career. I’ve learned not to care about it.”
Per Variety, The Purge made $89.3 million, and Ethan’s deal reportedly resulted in a $2 million payday.
The movie premiered in 2013, so Ethan’s profits are worth about $2,727,433.51 today.
15.
Nick Castle, who played Michael Myers in Halloween, wasn’t a trained actor, but he was director/co-writer John Carpenter’s former college classmate and bandmate. In 2018, Nick told Vanity Fair, “I was paid $25 per day for Halloween. That was a lot at the time! You have to remember, my interest in doing the film was being on set, so I could demystify the experience of filmmaking and directing. I expected to hang around the set for no money. But hey, $25 per day, and all I had to do was wear a rubber mask. It’s a mystery what John saw in me and the way I moved. I asked John, ‘What is this character going to do?’ And he said, ‘Just walk across the street.’ I knew Michael’s movements weren’t going to be robotic. He was a real guy. He’s not rushing.”
The 1978 movie shot for 20 days, so Nick made a maximum of $500. Adjusted for inflation, his daily rate is worth about $118.36 today, and his total salary is worth about $2,367.15.
16.
Adam Levine made his film debut as Dave Kohl in Begin Again. In 2014, he told USA Today, “I did this movie for no money. I’m very lucky that I’m in that position. I want to have good experiences. I don’t want to do a bunch of [stuff] that I hate. I want to treat [acting] completely differently because I have the very fortunate luxury of not having to think of this in terms of money.”
17.
And finally, in 2021, Taraji P. Henson told the InStyle podcast Ladies First with Laura Brown that, when she played Queen in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, she was paid $150,000. Her costars, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, were reportedly paid millions. Taraji said, “It wasn’t until Benjamin Button, actually, because I had started making my way. You know, when you’re first starting you have to build up to a quote. So me and my team felt like we’d finally gotten to this place where I could ask for half a million! That’s all we were asking for. Couldn’t get it.”
However, the amount she actually took home was much, much lower. She said, “Let me just break it down to you because I don’t ever want people to think that I’m ungrateful because that is not me. $150,000. Uncle Sam is gonna take 50 percent of that, so now you’re left with what? $75,000. Now, before Uncle Sam takes the money, I have to pay my team before taxes. 30 percent. So, once Uncle Sam takes his 75, then I got another 30 that’s coming off of that 75, so I may have made $40,000?”
The movie was filmed in 2006. Adjusted for inflation, Taraji’s total $150,000 salary is worth about $236,128.10 today, and the $40,000 she ultimately profited is worth about $62,967.49 today.
Which actor’s risk do you think paid off the most? Let us know in the comments!
