Since the SAG-AFTRA strike began over two weeks ago, actors have been sharing how little they’re paid. After Mandy Moore revealed she once got a residual check for 81 cents, Abbott Elementary’s William Stanford Davis told her to hold his beer, saying he once got one for three cents. Later Lizzie McGuire dad Robert Carradine got in on the action, showing a check he once got for absolute zero. But Hollywood has been stiffing actors for ages. Just ask the guy who played Stiffler.
As per HuffPost, an interview Seann William Scott did for The Rich Eisen Show last year has been making the rounds amidst the two-pronged strike that’s crippled Hollywood. In it, the actor revealed the comically low amount he made for his breakthrough role, as the horndoggiest high schooler in the first American Pie. How low was his paycheck? A mere $8,000.
“That was a lot of money at the time for me,” Scott admitted. “I remember afterwards I bought a used Thunderbird for like five grand … I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, baby.’”
Scott didn’t remember how he spent the other $3,000, but it wasn’t enough for him to coast on. He said he “ended up having to work at the LA Zoo as a churro guy, so maybe it was even less than eight grand.”
American Pie went on to gross over $235 million worldwide — the ninth biggest moneymaker of 1999, sandwiched between The World is Not Enough and the second Austin Powers.
Luckily Stiffler was one of the breakout supporting characters from the first film, and soon Scott wound up with decent gigs. In the year 2000 alone he got decapitated in the first Final Destination, was one of the leads in Road Trip, and co-starred with Ashton Kutcher in Dude, Where’s My Car? — all hits.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, with 2012’s American Reunion, his paycheck ballooned to $5 million, plus a percentage of the grosses.
Of course, Scott’s teensy American Pie payday happened long before the streaming age, which has robbed actors of the hefty residuals that kept them afloat in between jobs and into retirement. What it is is a reminder that Hollywood has always paid as little as they can, especially with young actors who think a pittance is a lot.
You can watch Scott’s Rick Eisen Show appearance in the video below. His American Pie comments begin around the 1:45 mark.
(Via HuffPost)
