58. Bill Murray
Project: Rushmore
Proposed Salary: $9,000*
Outcome: Agreed
Actor Bill Murray went away with less than $10,000 after filming Rushmore, according to director Wes Anderson. The startlingly low pay was the lowest SAG rate for a writer’s performance, and Anderson claimed Murray’s experience in the film was crucial.
He said that working with an actor as high-profile and beloved as Bill Murray could have been “intimidating,” but the actor made it “not intimidating.” For his part, Murray didn’t seem to mind the huge, multimillion-dollar pay cut. He said in an interview that Rushmore was the first movie he’d done in a long time that was “completely whole…writing-wise.”
58. Bill Murray
59. Jim Carrey
Project: The Truman Show
Proposed Salary: $12 million*
Outcome: Agreed Jim Carrey and Laura Linney starred in The Truman Show. Carrey might have commanded a $20 million paycheck at the time of production in the 1990s. He did, however, take a pay cut of $8 million, earning only $12 million from the film. The Truman Show had a $60 million budget and made $264.1 million in theaters. Carrey filmed the picture for a lower budget because he wanted to establish himself as more than just a comic. He aspired to star in a drama, demonstrating that he possessed a depth that had hitherto been overlooked. It worked, and Carrey’s performance in The Truman Show is still regarded as one of his most critically appreciated.
59. Jim Carrey
