The days of the multimillion-dollar paycheck are over for Hollywood’s elite actors, according to none other than Brad Pitt.
Pitt said the global economic recession has meant that studios aren’t raking in the same big bucks that they used to. So actors are having to take drastic pay cuts in order for movies to get made. The days of the $10-20 million paychecks apparently are dead and stinkin’.
“That thing died. That arithmetic doesn’t really work right now,” Pitt said to BBC Newsbeat. “That deal’s not flying these days… A lot of the studios have been challenged because of the economic downturn as well so they’ve been betting on bigger, more tent pole (blockbusters) kinds of things.”
It’s a trend we can see at the box office, as every weekend the public is being inundated with blockbuster franchises that clearly are not taxing the imaginations of Hollywood studios. But although the making of yet another Batman or Avengers movie may not sound like the most positive development in Hollywood, Pitt believes that this is actually a good time for creative filmmakers.
“That opens up a vacuum for really interesting new filmmakers to come in, it’s a really interesting time,” he said.
The award-winning actor, who has been nominated for Academy Awards four times and Golden Globes five times (he won one Golden Globe), believes that true talent will rise to the top.
And as for the paychecks of the big stars, doesn’t sound like Pitt thinks you should be losing a lot of sleep over their plight.
“You take the roles for the roles and you’ve just got to balance economics like everyone does,” he said.
Pitt and his wife Angelina Jolie will probably feel the slashing of the paychecks the most, since they are two of the highest-earning stars in Hollywood. But the social equity minded couple probably won’t be mourning the lost dollars too much—particularly since Pitt earned $25 million last year. Still, there shouldn’t be a whole lot of tears shed for the big-name actors, judging by the numbers in the Forbes list of highest paid stars. Tom Cruise topped the Forbes list at a whopping $75 million. Two black actors also made the top ten—Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came it at number four with $36 million, while Will Smith was number eight with $30 million.
