Shockingly Low Movie Salaries Revealed: Hilary Swank, Jamie Lee Curtis

Many A-List actors and actresses have been candid about various movies where the salary didn’t match the role.

Hilary Swank starred in the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry, receiving her first Academy Award for the performance . While Swank was applauded for her peers, she only received a salary of $3,000.

Meanwhile, when Jamie Lee Curtis was cast in the original Halloween film at age 19 in 1978, she received only $8,000. In addition to the money she received from acting, she also was tasked with staying on a $200 budget for her character’s wardrobe.

Keep scrolling to see what other stars have received shockingly low salaries in some big name movies:

Sean William Scott

While Sean William Scott had his breakout role in American Pie as Steve Stifler, his initial paycheck doesn’t match up to what the now cult classic is worth. Scott earned $8,000 for the entire movie, which ended up grossing $235 million at the box office.

“I think so, yeah, because I remember afterward I bought a used Thunderbird for like $5,000 or maybe $6,000, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, baby,’” Scott said of what he did with his earnings during a March 2022 appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “I don’t know what happened to the other $2,000 because I ended up having to work at the LA Zoo as a churro guy, so maybe it was even less than $8,000.”

Ryan Reynolds

Before making Deadpool a household name, Reynolds confessed that his paycheck was not all that it appeared to be while filming the first superhero flick.

“No part of me was thinking when Deadpool was finally greenlit that this would be a success,” the actor said in a July 2024 interview with The New York Times. “I even let go of getting paid to do the movie just to put it back on the screen. They wouldn’t allow my cowriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set, so I took the little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could form a de facto writers room.”

Christopher Lee

Lee starred in the 1973 film, The Wicker Man, and opted not to take a salary so the movie could get made.

“I got paid nothing. I keep repeating to people and they don’t believe it’s true,” he said in the 2001 documentary The Wicker Man Enigma, per The Independent. “If they paid me my normal fee – and everyone else their normal fees – they wouldn’t have been able to make the film.”

Hilary Swank

“So when I did Boys Don’t Cry, I was 24 years old. I made $3,000. In order to have health insurance, you have to make $5,000. So I didn’t even know that I didn’t have health insurance until I went and tried to get a prescription filled,” Swank recalled during an October 2016 appearance on Chelsea Handler’s Netflix self-titled talk show. “They said, ‘That’s $160.’ I went, ‘Um, did you try my insurance?’ They said, ‘Mmm-hmm.’ I had an Academy Award, no health insurance.”

Ethan Hawke

Hawke shared in an June 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly that while working on The Purge he didn’t have a big salary and even “slept on the producers’ couch” throughout the filming. The actor confessed that he believed in the horror’s premise and wanted to be a part of it no matter the cost.

“I’ve never really prioritized making money that way. I decided months ago that I loved The Purge and I felt it was a cool movie,” he said. “I would love it [even] if it bombed. I’ve had so few movies ever make money in my 20-year career. I’ve learned not to care about it.”

Jeff Daniels

While Daniels starred in Dumb and Dumber alongside Jim Carrey, the Newsroom alum allegedly had a significantly smaller salary. Daniels made $50,000 while Carrey reportedly received $7 million. The writer-director duo Bobby and Peter Farrelly recalled to The Hollywood Reporter in November 2014 how the movie studio didn’t want to cast Daniels in the role due to his lack of a comedic background, despite the Farrelly brothers wanting him to get the role.

“The studio didn’t want him. They said, ‘Please, anyone but him. Get a comedic actor,’” Bobby said. “So they offered him, if I recall, 50 grand, which was, you know, Jim’s getting seven mil, they offered him 50 figuring he’ll say, ‘No, I’m not taking that,’ but he took it.”

Jamie Lee Curtis

“I made $8,000. I made $2,000 a week, which at the time was a fortune,” Curtis told People magazine in October 2018 of her original Halloween salary and added that the crew was small and young. “20 people, maybe 15. The oldest person was 30. Every other person was under 30. It was magic. A friend of somebody cooked the food each day and we all ate on the ground together.”

In addition to acting, Curtis also got a $200 budget for her character’s clothing which she used at JCPenney.

Nick Castle

Much like Curtis, Castle — who played the infamous Michael Meyer — did not have a big salary on Halloween but he found the on set experience to be much richer.

“I was paid $25 per day for Halloween. That was a lot at the time!” he recalled to Vanity Fair in October 2018. “You have to remember: my interest in doing the film was being on set, so I could demystify the experience of filmmaking and directing. I expected to hang around the set for no money. But hey, $25 per day, and all I had to do was wear a rubber mask.”

Taraji P. Henson

While working on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button alongside Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, Henson was initially offered $100,000 for her role despite asking for $500,000. After some negotiating, Henson received $150,000 for the role which earned her an Academy Award nomination.

“I want to make this very clear — I’m not saying that Brad or Cate shouldn’t have gotten what they got. They put asses in seats, so give them their money. They deserve it. I’m not saying they shouldn’t get what they’re getting,” Henson reflected in an April 2019 interview with Variety. “I was just asking for half a million — that’s all. That’s it. When I was doing Benjamin Button, I wasn’t worth a million yet. My audience was still getting to know me. We thought we were asking for what was fair for me, at the time.”

Rebel Wilson

Before Pitch Perfect, Wilson appeared in Bridesmaids. In her memoir, Rebel Rising, Wilson revealed she made $3500 for her scenes with costars Kristen Wiig and Matt Lucas. The amount was the minimum required for her to be able to join the SAG-AFTRA union, which was enough for Wilson.

Terrence Howard

Howard claimed that in addition to having a small salary for his leading role in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow he also didn’t get any royalties for his singing.

“I made $12,000 for doing Hustle & Flow,” the actor said in a November 2023 interview with WREG News Channel 3. “What Paramount did, instead of putting my name as Terrence Howard performing the songs, they put ‘performed by DJay.’ Well, they owned DJay, so guess what? The performance royalties went to Paramount,” he claimed.

Jennifer Lopez

Lopez revealed that she opted not to take a salary for her performance in Hustlers. However, she did produce the crime comedy.

“I didn’t get paid a whole bunch of money for Hustlers,” she said in a November 2019 interview with GQ. “I did it for free and produced it. Like Jenny From the Block — I do what I love.”

Adam Levine

The Maroon 5 frontman made his acting debut in the 2013 rom-com Begin Again and ultimately decided to do it for free.

“I did this movie for no money. I’m very lucky that I’m in that position,” Levine said in an interview with USA Today in June 2014. “I want to have good experiences. I don’t want to do a bunch of s— that I hate. I want to treat [acting] completely differently because I have the very fortunate luxury of not having to think of this in terms of money.”

George Clooney

Clooney got paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in Good Night, and Good Luck, earning a total of $3. The actor later shared that his desire to do the movie was inspired by his father’s work ethic as a journalist.

“It’s me saying [to my father], ‘Thanks for setting the bar that high, for believing so strongly in the responsibility of information,’ and taking it to the level where it cost him a lot of things over the years,” Clooney reflected to the LA Times in September 2005. “There were jobs he left because he wasn’t willing to compromise.”