This Recent Brad Pitt Cameo Paid Him Just $956, But Why?
You wouldn't expect an A-lister like Brad Pitt to work for less than a few million bucks, would you? Still, in 2018 he made a cameo for not even $1k.
Brad Pitt's one of the biggest earners in Hollywood. The actor's known for charging around $20M for a movie, and his salaries are often even more astronomical.
So when you read "Brad Pitt did a cameo for $956," you likely picture the earliest years of his career — but in reality, this happened just five years ago when the actor's already been in his prime for a couple of decades.
The movie in question is Deadpool 2. Now, Deadpool 2 had a budget of $110M and it could totally afford to spend some real money on a cameo from an icon of Pitt's scale.
Instead, they literally hired the man for less than his nail's worth and a cup of coffee — quite literally. The story behind this deal is mildly amusing.
Brad Pitt's cameo in Deadpool 2 only lasted around three seconds. When Deadpool gathered a new superhero team to join him, X-Force, there was an invisible dude there — and when said invisibly dude parachuted into power lines and got zapped, the fans were equally as shocked to see Brad Pitt's surprised face on their screens.
The deal behind this appearance was this cheap for three main reasons.
First, Brad Pitt is good friends with Deadpool's director, David Leitch, who used to be the actor's stunt double back in the day.
Then, as Pitt put it, "he went off and became a really good director." The actor was delighted to work with his old pal, so asking for any significant payment for such a short cameo was off the table.
Second, this cameo was ridiculously simple. It took next to no time and pretty much zero acting on Brad's part, so he was uncomfortable even talking about payment.
"It was like a full crew for half an hour, and Brad agreed to do it for scale, plus a cup of coffee," recalls Deadpool 2's screenwriter Rhett Reese.
Third, it was thanks for a personal touch. Ryan Reynolds himself called Brad and asked if he was up for the gig, and Pitt immediately accepted. It's probably hard to say no to your fellow superstar when they reach out in person, isn't it?
So the matter was settled right away, Brad Pitt recalls: "Ryan called, and was like, why not?"
And thus, Brad Pitt's cheapest cameo of his entire career happened. The audience was happy, the crew was delighted, and they all lived happily ever after…
Even though Pitt just set a new personal low and potentially raised a few questions from the IRS.
Sources: The Direct, Cinema Blend