10 Actors Who Refused To Promote Their Own Movies

If you work non-stop from Monday to Friday, the chances are you're not going to be overly enthusiastic about coming in on the weekend to work for free, right?

This is the point Precious (2009) star Mo'Nique made when discussing her refusal to promote the film which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress overseas.

After initially being paid $50,000 to appear in the flick, the actor who played Mary Lee Johnston was reportedly asked by director Lee Daniels and the studio to promote the feature at the Cannes Film Festival. However, her contract only covered promotional obligations in the U.S, which meant she wouldn't be paid anything extra to promote the project anywhere else.

In the end, the studio and Cannes themselves insisted that they'd never paid an actor to promote a film. So, instead of walking the red carpet and answering questions in various interviews at Cannes, Mo'Nique ultimately opted to stay home and spend time with her family.

This entire situation eventually led to Daniels insisting that the actor had been 'blackballed' in Hollywood due to refusing to sell the movie she'd helped create. Yet, Mo'Nique stood by the fact that she'd fulfilled the terms of her original contract and was therefore being asked to work for free, something she clearly didn't want to do.