# Ever seen an actor or director tell the truth about an awful movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266 "2009-01-27T19:19:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266/101 "2009-02-02T14:11:34Z")
\*Entertainment Weekly \*has an occasional feature called “Watch This/Sorry About That” in which someone associated with a new project can promote it only if he apologizes for a previous POS. The most recent one is Scott Foley: [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20252790,00.html](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20252790,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266/102 "2009-02-02T16:23:36Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Well, tell that to the studios then, because the only reason the stars are paid as much as they are is not because they’re likeable people or great humanitarians. They are paid what they are because the expectation is that they can bring butts into the seats … Umm, yeah. That’s why I said people would be more likely to see a movie based on who’s in it, vs. what studio made it and/or where it was playing. That’s why I said automatically taking half the box office out of the equation was wrong. > [@](#): > > (and the comparison to studios or theatres is absurd; they’re not even remotely analogous). I didn’t make that comparison – you’re the one who brought up the distributors and their cut of the pie. My point was taking ANY money out of the box-office equation was cheating, because it automatically (and unfairly) inflates the star-in-question’s salary relative to the box-office take. > [@](#): > > While it’s true that not everyone makes decisions based on casting, a lot of people do (both positively and negatively)–certainly enough so that the powers that be pay stars what they do because they expect to make their money make and then some based on who they pick to be in their film. As long as that expectation is there, assessing the value of those investments is fair game. The fact remains … Nicole Kidman made three movies in 2008, and only two of those movies were wide release. Those two movies brought in more than $400 million (so far). The convoluted formula Forbes used to calculate Kidman’s “overpaid” status shows a 1:1 ratio between her salary and the movie’s box office, which is patently ridiculous. If I had to guess, I’d say she was paid $17 million each for the two “big” movies (_Golden Compass, Invasion_), and then either comped her pay or took a substantial pay cut to get _Margot at the Wedding_ made. If she made $40 million off the two big movies, the ratio OUGHT to be around 1:12. It’s a straightforward calculation that Forbes has modified to suit their whims. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266/103 "2009-02-03T01:58:08Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > As does Jon Stewart, specifically, about Half Baked. Is the man daft? Half Baked is comic genius, and I’m not even a pot head. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266/104 "2009-02-03T03:30:55Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > **Shirley Ujest** you must be thinking of “The Devil’s Own”, in which Pitt costarred with Harrison Ford in an Northern Ireland themed drama. Pitt said in a Newsweek article “We had no script…It was ridiculous. It was the most irresponsible bit of filmaking I’ve ever seen”. He apparently was upset that constant script rewrites had failed to make his character better. He would quickly offer up an apology under studio pressure. I must be the only person in the world who liked this film. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266/105 "2009-02-03T04:29:10Z")
Eddie Murphy would often plead on talk shows “its a good movie” but would later end up admitting that movies like ‘Best Defense’ and ‘The Golden Child’ weren’t worth the film they were made with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-seen-an-actor-or-director-tell-the-truth-about-an-awful-movie/483266.md?page=5)