While the recent World War II film The Monument Men is filled with an A-list cast including George Clooney, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman and Matt Damon, Clooney revealed that a majority of the cast had taken dramatic pay cuts before joining the film.
During and interview with Variety, Clooney, who directed, co-wrote and stared in the film expressed that, “If you pay everybody a full boatload, it’s a $150 million film. You just cant do it.”
“Everybody worked for super cheap, like crazy cheap,” so cheap that Clooney managed to keep the film under the $70 million budget. The actor continued on revealing that actors were paid a 10th or a 15th of their average rate, but with a meaningful backend if the film brings in revenue.
To Clooney, being granted the opportunity to make a film such as The Monument Men is more important than the money. “They don’t teach that in school. That’s why I loved the story.”
The film is based on the World War II platoon that was tasked with recovering works of art from around the world that had been stolen by the Nazis.
The Monuments Men is currently in theaters
