‘White Lotus' stars were paid ‘very low' salaries, Jason Isaacs reveals

Irish Independent

7 hours ago

Jason Isaacs as Tim Ratliff in 'The White Lotus'. Photo: HBO
The Harry Potter star (62), who featured in Mike White's Emmy-­winning anthology as the ­manic Ratliff patriarch, Timothy, revealed that compared with other big-time TV salaries, the actors received a 'very low price'.
In a new interview with Vulture , Isaacs was asked about the $40,000 (€34,850) an episode pay cheque each actor had collected.
'I didn't know that was public knowledge,' he said.
'That's absolutely true. Generally actors don't talk about pay in public because it's ridiculously disproportionate to what we do putting on make-up and funny voices – and just upsets the public.
'But compared to what people normally get paid for big television shows, that's a very low price,' he added, insisting that the entire cast 'would have paid to be in it. We probably would have given a body part.'
Given there were eight episodes in the third season, each actor would have made about $320,000 for their time.
What's more, every actor in the main cast received the same compensation, regardless of star power or experience.
When asked if he had any complicated feelings about making the same amount as his younger co-stars, such as Patrick Schwarzenegger, who played his on-screen son Saxon, the prolific British actor said: 'I never work for money.
'I mean, I've done all right. People will think I have huge stockpiles of money but sadly, what I've done rather immaturely is expand my outgoings to match my incomings and pretty much spent everything I've earned over the years.'
The subject of The White Lotus cast salaries became a headline in April, when producer David Bernard revealed that each actor is 'paid the same,' and it's 'not negotiable'.
'So you're getting people who want to do the project for the right reasons,' he told The Hollywood Reporter .
'It's a system we developed in the first season because there was no money to make the show.'
Season three of The White Lotus starred an ensemble cast of Isaacs, Schwarzenegger, Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Natasha Rothwell, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Aimee Lou Wood, Jon Gries, Sam Nivola, Sarah Catherine Hook, Christian Friedel, Tayme Thapthimthong, and Charlotte Le Bon.