10 Blatant Paycheck Movie Roles (That Were AWESOME)

There's no denying the sure star power that Marlon Brando brought to any production he was involved with, good or bad.

And so, being hot off the success of The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris, Brando was able to secure himself an unprecedented payday to play Superman's (Chrisopher Reeve) father Jor-El in 1978's Superman: The Movie.

For just 12 days' work amounting to less than 20 minutes of screen time, Brando was paid a stonking $3.7 million and also received 11.75% of the movie's box office, the latter deal scoring the actor around $20 million.

Brando's casting actually played a large part in the film getting made, and so Warner Bros. were only too happy to give him an extremely generous deal, far eclipsing that of the film's actual main star Christopher Reeve, who earned "just" $250,000 to play Superman.

On set Brando was typically difficult, refusing to learn his lines and insisting instead upon reading them from cue cards, though nevertheless lent the necessary gravitas to a pivotal part, not to mention some much-needed star power to the movie.