Mega-Salaries Have Hollywood Reeling
Rapidly rising superstar salaries - now around $20 million per picture for hot draws like Sylvester Stallone, Jim Carrey and Mel Gibson - are driving up the price for the top film actors and making it harder than ever to get movies made.
“The Stallone deal (with Savoy Pictures for $20 million) really made everything go crazy,” said talent manager and producer Keith Addis. “And Demi Moore’s $12.5 million (for Castle Rock’s ‘Striptease’) raised the stakes across the board for actresses.”
While the rapid escalation hasn’t paralyzed Hollywood, many producers, studio executives and actors’ representatives say deal-making has become that much tougher.
“Prices are going up,” said Chuck Binder, who manages Sharon Stone. “… I’m certainly going to ask for more money (for Stone). If Demi (Moore) is getting $12.5 million, Sharon is a bargain at $10 million. Everybody is going to push the prices forward.”
Some studio executives grow apoplectic when discussing stars’ salary demands.
“It’s disgraceful,” fumed one studio chief. “The Jim Carrey deal changed the whole topography. If he’s getting $20 million, what are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Douglas and Mel Gibson going to get? When does it stop? Will everybody have $100 million films in the marketplace next summer? It’s scary.”
“It’s tough,” agreed a studio president, “because these movies don’t make enough money (to support such salaries).”
Addis said the upward pressure on actors’ fees stemmed from Stallone’s $20 million holding deal with Savoy and Moore’s $12.5 million deal at Castle Rock. In the wake of Carrey receiving $20 million for Columbia’s “Cable Guy” and Stallone getting a commitment at that amount for an untitled picture from Savoy, other male stars have been pressuring their agents to seek higher fees for their services.
Just the other day, Gibson inked a deal to star in Touchstone’s “Ransom” that appears to have ushered the actor into the $20 million arena.
The shock wave doesn’t stop at the top - it ripples through the entire salary structure for film actors. Just last month, Denzel Washington’s price jumped from $7.5 million (for Paramount’s “Virtuosity”) to $10 million for Fox 2000’s “Courage Under Fire”; while Charlie Sheen - without the kind of comparable hit that Washington had in “Crimson Tide” - leaped from $4 million for Cinergi’s “Shadow Conspiracy” to $5.25 million for LIVE Entertainment’s “Shockwave.”
Other factors conspire to force salaries higher. A studio like Savoy might be willing to pay a big salary because it needs to establish its credibility or to make presales. While these huge paydays may have little to do with real business sense, they throw everything off and put pressure on businessmen and businesswomen to make risky deals.
The large salaries then blunt the urgency actors once felt about finding work. “When they get this kind of money,” noted one studio executive, “they can afford to hold out longer for someone to pay their price. This makes the (deal-making) process longer, unfortunately.”
Mark Canton, chairman of Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Co., maintained that the Carrey deal was unique and was not meant to be a trend-setter.
He said: “I wouldn’t pay Jim Carrey $20 million every time he does a movie. I stepped up to that price because it was a unique project we wanted to do.”