George Clooney Called Out An “Interesting” Report Claiming That He And Brad Pitt Were Paid “More Than $35 Million Each” For Their New Movie, “Wolfs”
George Clooney dispelled a report about how much he and Brad Pitt were paid for their new movie.
In case you’ve not seen, the former Ocean’s Eleven costars have teamed up for a brand-new action comedy called Wolfs, in which they star as two professional “lone-wolf” fixers forced to work together to cover up a high-profile crime.
The upcoming film was shown for the first time at Venice Film Festival on Sunday, and during a press conference ahead of the worldwide premiere, George commented on a recent report about how much he and Brad were paid for their work.
For context, the New York Times published a story on Aug. 25 claiming that Brad and George earned “more than $35 million each” for Wolfs, while the film’s director, Jon Watts, received “more than $15 million.”
The article came shortly after Apple — which won the rights to make the movie after a bidding war in 2021 — pivoted on plans for Wolfs to have a wide theatrical release in the US, announcing instead that the film will be shown in a small number of movie theaters for one week before it becomes available to stream on Apple TV+ on Sept. 27.
At the same time, Apple confirmed that Wolfs will get a sequel, which Watts will write, direct, and produce.
The reports about Brad and George’s apparent salaries caused a lot of discussion online, with fans questioning if that kind of pay is sustainable for the movie industry — particularly in light of the film’s limited theatrical release.
“Apple spent $85 million on just 3 crew members for one movie that is only going to play in theaters for 7 days,” one X user wrote in response to a post citing the New York Times story.
“There is no way this makes financial sense,” added someone else, echoed by others who highlighted that “you could fund several entire productions” with that much money.
“No actor/actress should be paid that much for being in a movie,” commented another user.
But now, George has claimed that the figures in the “interesting” New York Times story were inaccurate — saying instead that what he and Brad actually received was “millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported.”
“And I am only saying that because I think it’s bad for our industry if that’s what people think is the standard bearer for salaries,” he added, echoing fans’ thoughts online. “I think that’s terrible. It’ll make it impossible to make films.”
Elsewhere in the press conference, George also expressed disappointment that Wolfs will not receive a wide theatrical release, describing Apple’s revised strategy as a “bummer.”
“Yes, we wanted it to be released [in theaters],” he said, per Deadline. “We’ve had some bumps along the way, that happens…There are elements of this that we are figuring out. You guys are all in this too. We’re all in this industry and we’re trying to find our way post-COVID and everything else, and so there’s some bumps along the way.”
You can watch the trailer for Wolfs here.
Here’s Why George Clooney Is At A “Tactical Disadvantage” With His And Amal’s 6-Year-Old TwinsEllen Durney · Dec. 13, 2023
Solve the daily Crossword
