10 Co-Stars Paid Vastly Different Salaries For The Same Film

10. Jim Carrey & Jeff Daniels - Dumb & Dumber

Even accepting that Jim Carrey was categorically The Star of Dumb and Dumber, Jeff Daniels not only shares near-equal screen time with him throughout the zany '90s comedy, but was a decorated dramatic actor in his own right.

Advertisement

With two Golden Globe nominations to his name and a bevy of memorable roles in hit movies in the decade leading up to Dumb and Dumber, it was reasonable to assume that Daniels was at least paid a decent rate befitting his status, even if not the megabucks salary of his co-star.

Indeed, Carrey was paid an eye-watering $7 million - almost half the film's budget - to play Lloyd Christmas due to the prior success of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Daniels, meanwhile, was offered a paltry $50,000 for the role of Harry Dunne. To be clear, that's 0.007% of Carrey's take-home pay.

Was Carrey really worth 140x more than Daniels? Well, New Line Cinema's brass actually didn't want to cast Daniels in the movie at all, feeling that he was better known for his dramatic work than comedy, and so intentionally low-balled him with the expectation that he wouldn't take it.

And yet, Daniels was keen enough for the part - despite his agent trying to persuade him otherwise - that he accepted the lousy offer, and the rest is history.

On the flip side, Dumb and Dumber introduced Daniels to a whole new audience of moviegoers and only good did things for his career in the long run. Plus, it's reasonable to assume that he got a tasty raise for 2014's belated sequel, Dumb and Dumber To.

Advertisement