E-Paper
Meet actor who earned $15 million for saying 3 words, never appearing on screen: Story of Hollywood's craziest paycheck
Hollywood's ‘craziest’ paycheck earned an actor $15 million for just saying three words over the course of five films. Here's how that came to be.
The business of cinema has become so big that today, actors have become millionaires and even billionaires on the back of the fame films have given them. Actors routinely charge tens of millions for starring roles in big films. But it rarely happens that an actor can charge a premium amount for a film, where he is not only never 'seen' on screen, but only ever utters three words. This is the story of Hollywood's craziest paycheck.
The actor who earned $15 million for saying three words
Vin Diesel is best known for his starring role in the Fast and the Furious series. The actor is known to have pocketed close to $47 million for one of the films in the franchise, and his overall earnings from the series is around $200 million. But, there is another role that has become synonymous with Vin over the years - that of Groot from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor first voiced the character in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 in 2014, reprising it in two sequels, as well as two Avengers films - Infinity War and Endgame.
For years, it had been reported that Vin Diesel earned $13.5 million per film for his role as Groot, before Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn debunked it on Threads. However, reports have put the actor's earnings from his MCU role at $12-15 million. That is quite an impressive paycheck for voice acting. Interestingly, throughout the MCU, Groot simply says three words: ‘I am Groot’, albeit in different tones and manner. Only once in the second Guardians film did the character break from that to utter, “We are Groot”. Marvel Studios gave the actor this amount, keeping in mind his popularity and global appeal, for what was essentially a franchise new to non-comic book fans.
Vin Diesel as Groot and more
Vin Diesel has appeared in five films as Groot between 2014 and 2023. At the same time, he has also starred in four Fast and Furious films and XXX: Return of Xander Cage. The success of these films has kept Vin Diesel's status as one of the world's top movie stars consistent. Next up, Vin Diesel will return to another character from his past. In Riddick: Furya, he plays Richard B Riddick, the action hero he first played in the 2000 release Pitch Black, and reprised in two sequels.
