Riggs, Ransom. "5 million-dollar mistakes by movie stars." CNN.com 20 Oct 2008 1. 22 Oct 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
$400 Million Mistake
We have all made mistakes in our lives, some big and some small. I doubt, however, that you have ever made a mistake that ended up costing you hundreds of millions of dollars. According to this story, that is what Sean Connery gave up by not playing Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings". He was offered 15% of the worldwide box office receipts and he turned it down because he couldn't "understand the script". What a mistake it was because he turned down almost $400 million. Steve Mcqueen also turned down three roles as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in "The French Connection", Sundance in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Captain Benjamin Willard in "Apocalypse Now". He lost $3 million when he turned down "Apocalypse Now", and a potential oscar for the "French Connection". Will Smith was offered the role of Neo in "The Matrix," but he humbly turned it down explaining that he would have "messed up" the movie. You really don't know what you have till it's gone. Some of these stars have legitimate reasons like not thinking that someone else will do a better a better job, but to turn down millions of dollars because you don't want to film somewhere or not "understanding" the script is crazy. Mr. Connery should've tryed to understand the script a little more or just checked out the huge fanbase before he turned down $400 million. I thought this was very interesting especially thinking about how different the famous movies characters would be with different actors. It is definitely something everyone should read. It is related to class in that we are learning about film and literary analysis and this is a story about film. This is also related to the class theme for this semester about journeys. The actors obviously believed that their journey or purpose was to not do that movie.
Riggs, Ransom. "5 million-dollar mistakes by movie stars." CNN.com 20 Oct 2008 1. 22 Oct 2008.
Riggs, Ransom. "5 million-dollar mistakes by movie stars." CNN.com 20 Oct 2008 1. 22 Oct 2008
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4 comments:
Holy crap, that would just SUCK if you were Sean Connery! This article humors me, because these actors thought they were too good for these movies, when it turns out the movies were too good for them! I agree with your statement that you really don't know what you have until it's gone, these actors should have definitely taken that into consideration, before turning down a 400 million dollar deal! That's just unbelievable to me, the reasons that they turned down those movies. Great job Kyle!
This article is great! I agree with you that it's absolutely stupid to turn down $400 million just because you didn't understand the script. You're explanation of the article made me feel that I too had read the article. The only thing I would suggest is that you should add more analysis. Your connection to class was great as well. Good job!
I agree that for some actors, it is a huge mistake to turn down a part in a movie. However, I disagree that "not understanding the script" is an illegitimate excuse. I think that if an actor doesn't "get" the script or
connect with a part, then they would be doing a disservice to themself and the movie in general. To me, it's reassuring to see that all actors aren't greedy people, driven to take parts based on the amount of cash they'll get. But that they use their discretion to decide whether or not their accepting a role will benefit the movie.
Wow that is really amazing! I can't believe how much they are kicking themselves now. I also think that Marion brings up an interesting point about not understanding the script. If an actor didn't understand a script, and they still took the role, the movie could have turned out totally different. It makes you wonder if those movies would have been as good if the actors had taken the roles.
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