Entertainment

After 40+ years in New York, Willem Dafoe now lives on a small farm outside Rome where he raises 14 alpacas. He bottle-feeds the ones rejected by their mothers and names them all. One is called Hermes.

Tom Cruise earned $2 million for the original Top Gun in 1986. For Top Gun: Maverick 36 years later, he negotiated backend points on a film that made $1.5 billion. His total payout exceeded $100 million. His salary for the sequel was more than six times the entire budget of the original movie.

Quaker Oats bought Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1994. They had no idea how to run it. Within 27 months they sold it for $300 million and took a $1.4 billion loss. The acquisition lasted less time than most car loans.

Burt Reynolds was the #1 box office star in the world for five straight years. He turned down Han Solo. He turned down James Bond. He turned down Pretty Woman. He said no to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He invested his fortune in a restaurant chain called Po' Folks. He filed for bankruptcy in 1996 and died in 2018 worth roughly $3 million.

Dave Grohl broke his leg falling off stage during the second song of a Foo Fighters concert in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was strapped up, given pain injections, and came back to finish the remaining 2.5 hours. Three weeks later, he designed a custom throne made of guitar necks and speaker cabinets while high on morphine in a hospital bed - then toured on it for three months.

12 publishers rejected J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter manuscript. She was a single mother on welfare. They said it was too long and not suitable for children. Publisher number 13 gave the manuscript to his 8-year-old daughter. She read one chapter and demanded the rest immediately. He paid Rowling an advance of 2,500 pounds. Then told her she would never make money from children's books. The franchise is now worth $25 billion.

Bruce Willis accepted $14 million for The Sixth Sense instead of his usual $20 million. In exchange, he negotiated 17% of worldwide gross. The film made $672 million. His total payout: $114 million. The biggest acting paycheck in Hollywood history came from a movie where he sits in a chair and talks to a child.

Michael Jordan never wanted to sign with Nike. He wore Adidas. He begged Adidas to sign him. They told him: "We can not make a shoe work." Nike offered $2.5 million and a signature shoe. Jordan still did not want to go. His mother forced him onto the plane. Jordan Brand now generates $7 billion a year.

When Forrest Gump went over budget, Tom Hanks gave up his entire $7 million salary in exchange for first-dollar backend points. The studio thought they were saving money. The film grossed $680 million. Hanks took home over $70 million. He even paid for the running-across-America sequence out of pocket after the studio refused to fund it.

In 1994, the Friends cast each made $22,500 per episode. Warner Bros. tried to negotiate with them individually. The cast refused. They bargained as a group or not at all. Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer voluntarily took pay cuts so all six earned equally. By the final season: $1 million per episode each. They still earn $20 million a year each from reruns. The show ended 22 years ago.

George Lucas accepted $150,000 to direct Star Wars and waived a $500,000 raise. In exchange, he kept merchandising and sequel rights. Fox thought they were worthless after losing a fortune on Doctor Dolittle merch. Star Wars merchandise has made over $20 billion. Lucas sold to Disney for $4.05 billion.

Robert Downey Jr. credits a disgusting Burger King burger with saving his life. In 2003, driving along the Pacific Coast Highway with drugs in his car, he stopped for a burger. It was so bad he told Empire magazine he thought "something really bad was going to happen." He drove to the ocean and threw every drug he had into the water.

Howard Schultz offered Shaq a Starbucks franchise deal in the late 1990s. Shaq told him: "Black people don't drink coffee, sir. I don't think it's gonna work." Magic Johnson took the deal instead, opened 105 Starbucks in underserved communities, and sold his stake for an estimated $100 million. Shaq calls it his biggest mistake.

Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix because the Wachowskis' pitch confused him. He chose Wild Wild West instead. The Matrix launched a $1.7 billion franchise. Wild Wild West won five Razzie Awards including Worst Picture. Smith later admitted: "I probably would've messed it up."

Alec Guinness thought so little of Star Wars that he called it "fairy-tale rubbish" and complained "none of the dialogue makes my character clear or even bearable." He negotiated 2.25% of the gross revenue. His roughly 20 minutes of screen time in the original film earned him an estimated $95 million over his lifetime. His estate is believed to still collect royalties.

Billy Joel never sells front row tickets. He sends his crew to find real fans in the cheapest seats and moves them to the front row. He was tired of "bored, rich people" staring up at him.

Elvis wanted to record "I Will Always Love You." His manager Colonel Tom Parker called Dolly Parton and said there was one condition - hand over 50% of the publishing rights. Dolly said no. Years later, Whitney Houston covered it for The Bodyguard. Dolly earned over $10 million from that single cover. She later joked she made enough money to buy Graceland.

Sean Connery turned down $450 million. He was offered Gandalf in Lord of the Rings — $10 million plus 15% of box office for all three films. Said no because he "didn't understand the material." The trilogy grossed $3 billion. He never understood it.

Celine Dion hated "My Heart Will Go On" so much she almost refused to record it. She did one throwaway demo just to get her husband to stop asking. That single take sold 18 million copies and won an Oscar. Rolling Stone later voted it the 4th most annoying song ever made.

Jack Nicholson turned down $10 million to play the Joker. Took $6 million instead — plus a cut of every Batman toy ever sold. The studio thought they'd saved money. Batman merchandise hit $1 billion. Nicholson walked away with $90 million. For playing a clown.