Shockingly Low Movie Salaries Revealed: Hilary Swank, Jamie Lee Curtis

Many A-List actors and actresses have been honest about them various films where the salary did not match the role.

Hilary Swank starred in the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cryreceiving it first Academy Award for the performance. While Swank was praised for 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, he received only $8,000. In addition to the money she received from acting, she was also tasked with staying on a budget of $200 for her character’s wardrobe.

Keep scrolling to see which other stars have received shockingly low salaries in some big name movies:

Sean William Scott

While Sean William Scott had his marginal role in American pie like Steve Sttifler, his starting paycheck doesn’t match the value of the cult classic by now. 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 like $5,000 or maybe $6,000, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, baby,'” Scott said of what he did with his earnings during an appearance in March 2022 onwards 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 doing Deadpool A household name, Reynolds admitted that his paycheck didn’t seem like it while filming the first superhero flick.

“No part of me thought when Deadpool was finally greenlit that this would be a success,” the actor said in a July 2024 interview. The New York Times. “I even gave up getting paid to make the film just to put it back on the screen. They would not allow my cowriters Rhett Reese a Paul Wernick on set, so I took what little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could form a de facto writers’ room.”

Christopher Lee

Lee starred in the 1973 film, The Wicker Manand chose not to take a salary in order to be able to make the film.

“I got nothing. I keep telling people and they don’t believe it’s true,” he said in the 2001 documentary The Wicked Man Enigmaper The Independents. “If they paid me my normal fee – and everyone else their normal fees – they wouldn’t have been able to make the film.”

Hilary Swank

“So when I did Boys Don’t CryI was 24 years old. I made $3,000. To get health insurance, you have to make $5,000. So I didn’t even know I didn’t have health insurance until I went to try to fill a prescription,” Swank recalled during an October 2016 appearance on Chelsea HandlerNetflix’s self-titled talk show. “They said, ‘That’s $160.’ I went, ‘Um, did you try my insurance?’ They said, ‘Mmm-hmm.’ I had an Academy Award, no health insurance.”

Ethan Hawke

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

“I’ve never prioritized making money like that. I decided months ago that I was in love The Purge and I felt it was a cool movie,” he said. “I’d 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.”

Jeff Daniels

While Daniels was starring in Dumb and Dumber side by side Jim Carreythe Newsroom alum allegedly has a much smaller salary. Daniels made $50,000 and Carrey reportedly received $7 million. The writer-director duo Baking a Peter Farrelly retrieve 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 comic background, despite the Farrelly brothers wanting him to get the role.

“The studio didn’t want him. They said, ‘Please, anybody but him. Get a comedian,'” Bobby said. “So they offered him, if I remember, 50 grand, which, you know, Jim got seven thousand, we did they offered him 50 showing that he’ll say, ‘No, I’m not taking that,’ but he took it.”

Jamie Lee Curtis

“I made $8,000. I made $2,000 a week, which was a fortune at the time,” Curtis said. People magazine in October 2018 from its original Halloween salary and added 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. Someone’s friend cooked the food every day and we all ate on the ground together.”

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

Nick Castle

Much like Curtis, Castle – who played the role of the famous Michael Meyer – did not have a big salary on Halloween but found the experience on set much richer.

“I got $25 a day for Halloween. That was a lot at the time!” he recalled Vanity fair in October 2018. “You have to remember: my interest in making the film was set on a set, so I was able to disillusion the experience of making films and directing. I expected to hang around the set for 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 side by side Brad Pitt a Cate BlanchettHenson was offered $100,000 for her role despite asking for $500,000. After some negotiation, Henson accepted $150,000 for the role that 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 their money. They deserve it. I’m not saying they shouldn’t get what they get,” Henson reflected in an April 2019 interview with Variety. “I was only asking for half a million — that’s all. That’s it. When I was doing Benjamin Button, I wasn’t worth a million yet. My audience was still getting to know me. We thought we were asking what was fair to me, at the time.”

Rebel Wilson

Before Pitch Perfect, Wilson appeared in Maids. In her memoir, Rebels RiseWilson revealed that she made $3500 for her scenes with costars Kristen Wiig a Matt Lucas. The amount was the minimum required for her to join the SAG-AFTRA union, which was enough for Wilson.

Terrence Howard

Howard claimed that as well as receiving a small salary for his lead role in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow nor did he receive royalties for his singing.

“I made $12,000 for doing Hustle & Flow”said the actor in an interview in November 2023 with WREG 3 News Channel. “What Paramount did, instead of putting my name as Terrence Howard performing the songs, they put ‘performed by DJay.’ Well, they owned DJay, so guess what? The performance royalties went to Paramount,” he said.

Jennifer Lopez

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

“I didn’t get paid a whole bunch of money for Hustlers,” he said in a November 2019 interview with GQ. “I did it for nothing and produced it. Like Jenny From the Block – I do what I love.”

Adam Levine

The Maroon 5 frontman made his acting debut in the 2013 rom-com Start Again and eventually decided to do it for free.

“I made this film for no money. I’m very fortunate to be in that position,” Levine said in an interview with USA Today in June 2014. “I want to have good experiences. I don’t want to make a bunch of ifs— which I hate. I want to treat (acting) completely differently because I have the very fortunate luxury of not having to think about this in terms of money.”

George Clooney

Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing and acting Good Night, and Good Luckearning a total of $3. The actor later shared that his desire to make the film was inspired by his father’s work ethic as a journalist.

“It’s me saying (to my father), ‘Thank you for setting the bar that high, for believing so strongly in the responsibility of knowledge,’ and taking it to the level where it cost him a lot of things over the years,” Clooney reflect to the LA times in September 2005. “There were jobs he left because he wasn’t willing to compromise.”