10 Recent Movie Truths We've Just Found Out
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey might be brothers. Seriously.
Hollywood sure is a weird and wonderful place that attracts all sorts of characters, and barely a day goes by without somebody dropping a fascinating truth bomb about their time in this absolute circus of an industry, whether an actor, filmmaker, studio executive, or extra.
But nothing as of late has topped these especially illuminating truths which recently came to light, ensuring you'll look at the actors, movies, and perhaps even entire franchises involved quite differently.
From a certain actor who got stiffed on their salary to the vengeful motivation for another actor's recent performance, the huge roles an Oscar-nominated actress turned down, and two acting legends who just might actually be related, we've certainly heard some fascinatingly off-the-wall stories in recent months.
Some of these jaw-dropping stories are admittedly still playing out, but from what we know already, we never could've seen them coming.
While it's surely just a matter of time before the next spate of shocking movie truths come our way, for now these are the hugely unexpected movie stories that have been on everybody's lips...
10. Nicolas Cage Was Never Paid For Starring In Leaving Las Vegas
Nicolas Cage won a well-earned Best Actor Oscar for his sublime performance as suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas, though the film's writer-director, Mike Higgis, recently revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that Cage ended up doing the role for free.
That wasn't his choosing, however - it's simply that the agreed $100,000 fee was literally never paid to Cage.
The film, which was made for around $4 million, was a victim of the much-maligned "Hollywood accounting. Basically, production company Lumiére Pictures claimed that it never turned a profit despite clearing almost $50 million at the box office, and that's without factoring in home video sales.
Due to the way payouts were structured on the indie drama, neither Cage nor Figgis received their promised $100,000 salaries. Considering the film helped propel them both into more lucrative work, however, Figgis ultimately let it slide. He said:
"Whatever. I mean, my career then took off again, and the next film I did, I got really well paid. And within a year [Nic] was earning $20 million a film, so that was quite good."