7 Actors Who Donated Their Whole Film Wage To A Good Trigger

Discover out why these actors gave up their wage…

In 2008, Beyoncé was paid $4 million to star in Cadillac Data as a younger Etta James — however she reportedly didn’t hold any of her wage. Beyoncé donated the whole thing of her salary to the Phoenix Home, a drug therapy middle that helps over 5,000 recovering addicts each day. Whereas making ready for the position, Bey had hung out at one among their rehab amenities to study extra about Etta, who had stayed at an identical middle to deal with her heroin dependancy within the Nineteen Seventies.

Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles, later shared that a part of her daughter’s donation was put in the direction of opening a cosmetology faculty for individuals from Phoenix Home who needed to study a life talent that might assist them get again on their toes.

“My mom and I imagine that anybody can succeed with somewhat assist,” Beyoncé shared. “The middle may help these men and women to realize their objectives, to be impartial, self-fulfilled, and in the end assist in their restoration course of.”

After filming his 2013 film Gimme Shelter, Brendan Fraser reportedly donated his whole wage to A number of Sources Shelters — and his co-star, James Earl Jones, did the identical. The movie was based mostly on a real-life pregnant teenager who had lived at one of many shelters. Director Ron Krauss says he was shocked that Brendan and James even needed to be within the movie.

“I used to be bowled over as a result of he was an enormous actor, and I didn’t actually anticipate to have massive actors on this film,” he advised Nationwide Evaluation. “It actually had an genuine solid, whose motivation was not about cash, however about getting an genuine message out.”

In 2023, Anna Kendrick was simply weeks away from the premiere of her movie Lady of the Hour when she realized that she didn’t need to hold any cash made out of the film. The movie, based mostly on the lifetime of serial killer Rodney Alcaca, chronicled his quite a few murders in addition to the second throughout his killing spree when he infamously appeared on The Courting Recreation. Anna determined she felt “gross” holding the cash and determined to donate it to RAINN and to the Nationwide Heart for Victims of Violent Crime.

“This was by no means a money-making enterprise for me. Ultimately, Netflix purchased the film. Nevertheless it wasn’t till, like, the week earlier than Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant that I believed, ‘Oh, the film’s gonna generate profits,’” Anna shared on the Crime Junkie AF podcast. “I requested myself the query of, ‘Do you are feeling gross about this?’ And I did.”

After engaged on A Wet Day in New York, Timothée Chalamet and his co-stars needed to rethink their choice to work with director Woody Allen, who was dealing with abuse allegations on the time. Whereas Timothée couldn’t share his precise ideas on the matter due to contractual obligations, Timothée ended up deciding that he didn’t need to revenue from the movie. He donated his wage to TIME’S UP, The LGBT Heart in New York, and RAINN.

“This 12 months has modified the best way I see and really feel about so many issues; it has been an exhilarating and, at occasions, enlightening training. I’ve, up to now, chosen initiatives from the angle of a younger actor attempting to stroll within the footsteps of extra seasoned actors I like,” Timothée wrote on Instagram. “However I’m studying {that a} good position is not the one standards for accepting a job – that has turn out to be a lot clearer to me previously few months, having witnessed the beginning of a robust motion intent on ending injustice, inequality and above all, silence.”

He continued, “I need to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with courageous artists who’re preventing for all individuals to be handled with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

Heath Ledger was in the midst of filming The Imaginarium of Physician Parnassus when he died of an unintentional overdose. Because the film was solely midway full, the group behind the movie scrambled to determine what to do. In the long run, Heath’s pals Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Regulation all stood in for Heath — and donated all the cash to his daughter Matilda.

“They got here; they did the work; they allowed the film to be completed; they didn’t take cash — the cash goes to Heath’s daughter. That’s extraordinary! And fantastic…and if you’re a part of that, you assume, ‘Ah, that is perhaps why I went into the films, at first. I believed it could be stuffed with fantastic individuals.’ And in our case, we’ve obtained a film stuffed with fantastic individuals, who did extraordinary issues to assist,” director Terry Gilliam shared.

In 2021, Michael Sheen shared that he had not too long ago determined to turn out to be a “not-for-profit” actor and needed to donate any of his additional earnings to fund social initiatives. He made the selection after donating a big sum of money to fund the Homeless World Cup — and realized it was one thing he may very well be doing on a regular basis.

“I’ve primarily turned myself right into a social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor…I’ve realized in the previous few years that I need to be a kind of individuals who assist different individuals the best way so many individuals helped me. I don’t need to simply be somebody who enjoys the fruits of what different individuals have carried out after which pull the drawbridge up,” Michael mentioned in an interview with Large Situation.

Al Pacino’s 1980 movie Cruising, which was a few serial killer who focused homosexual males in Manhattan, confronted a variety of backlash from the LGBTQ+ group when it was launched. On the time, he allegedly obtained demise threats, but it surely wasn’t till after filming wrapped that he realized that it was “an exploitative movie.” He mentioned he ended up quietly donating his wage to charities.

“After I mentioned sure to it, I believed it was going to be a murder-mystery thriller with some edge to it, I used to be not as delicate as I may have been concerning the stigmatization of the homosexual group and the way this materials depicted them,” Al wrote in Sonny Boy: A Memoir.

He continued, “I took the cash and it was lots, and I put it in an irrevocable belief fund, which means as soon as I gave it, there was no taking it again. I gave it to charities, and with the curiosity, it was in a position to final a few many years…It was at all times donated anonymously as a result of I did not need to make it a PR stunt — I simply needed one constructive factor to come back out of that entire expertise.”