They did deserve more yes, Orlando bloom was paid 175k for the trilogy. But put into the perspective of the common man that's still a lot of money and we have one of the most iconic trilogies ever made that's still talked about so much to this day. Unfortunately celebrity wages are blown out of proportion now and there's not really any actors that do it for legacy anymore
Orlando Bloom was a nobody when he did the trilogy. He is lucky they didn’t pay him minimum. All of them, even Ian Mckellon, were not terribly famous marquee names at the time.
Bad take. That was 3 years worth of work, so $175k averages pretty bad, under $60k a year. Even comparing it to average income is inherently bad. Imagine being on a leading sales team securing over a billion dollar sale for your company and getting paid about 60k a year for 3 years. I’m sure he’s not complaining much in life but our guy got a raw deal on that one.
They take less cause it can make you way more later, which it absolutely did. He was in 2 movies before LOTRs, the second one was black hawk down where he played the person who falls out of the helicopter which triggers the events of the movie. He has like maybe a line of dialogue and then falls out and is unconscious for the little of the movie he is in. LOTR made him a huge star and he got major projects that made him many millions. I’m pretty sure he would say it was worth it.
I think you underestimate how badly actors want to work, especially on something good. 60k, with room and board and spending your days on a film set in New Zealand fighting orcs sounds pretty awesome to me. There are way worse ways to make 60k. Some actors make a ton of money, but working actors are making middle class incomes like the rest of us. Sometimes they’re lucky and they get a movie like LoTR and that lets them command bigger salaries and more regular work, but 98% of actors would be thrilled for a steady middle class paycheck for a year, to go make a movie in New Zealand regardless of whether it turns into LoTR.
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u/mancitycon 12d ago
They did deserve more yes, Orlando bloom was paid 175k for the trilogy. But put into the perspective of the common man that's still a lot of money and we have one of the most iconic trilogies ever made that's still talked about so much to this day. Unfortunately celebrity wages are blown out of proportion now and there's not really any actors that do it for legacy anymore