Stellan Skarsgård Took Pay Cut For Crew To Get Lunch
As well as taking a pay cut, Stellan said he became an executive producer because he wanted to ensure that the crew received good lunches on set. 'I wasn't supposed to be [an executive producer] at first, but I said I'd never film in Norway without having a special contract,' he explained at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, per Variety.
Stellan then claimed that after a negative experience shooting Erik Skjoldbjærg's Insomnia (1997), he vowed never to film in Norway again unless good lunches were provided.
'I lost eight kilos on Insomnia. We would usually get a loaf of bread, that's pre-sliced, and a plastic salami. That's it!' Stellan claimed. 'I've made other films in Norway since then, but it has always said in my contract that everybody should get lunches of the highest European standard. And that's expensive. Norway, they're the richest country, but they don't want to spend money on food.'
'I went down, I think, half a million kroner in my salary to pay for this, for the food for everybody,' he continued. 'And the producer said, 'You'll get credit for that.' Also, the food has to be served on real china – no plastic, paper bags or whatever. And you're not standing in line, you sit down and eat. It makes everybody happier and makes the film much better. I haven't made one bad film in Norway since.'
Stellan isn't the only actor who has accepted a pay cut for the benefit of others. Will Smith, for example, paid the King Richard cast bonuses out of his own pocket in 2021 after WarnerMedia chose to release the film on streaming services and in theaters simultaneously, resulting in a loss of theatrical returns.
Keanu Reeves once reportedly gave the visual effects crew of The Matrix a 'very hefty bonus' to ensure that they were fairly compensated for their hard work.
Back in 2017, it was reported that the original five stars of The Big Bang Theory — Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, and Simon Helberg — all agreed to $100,000 per episode pay cuts to allow their costars Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch to receive higher salaries.
Meanwhile, the screenwriters behind Deadpool (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) once claimed that Ryan Reynolds paid for them to be on set during filming because the studio refused to.
Stories like these absolutely restore my faith in Hollywood. If you can think of more examples, let me know in the comments.
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