8 Actors Who Were Paid Huge Salaries For Very Little Work

1. Benicio del Toro - American Gangster (2007)

The rights to the story of New York heroin kingpin Frank Lucas were purchased by Universal back in 2000, but it was November 2007 by the time the finished product finally hit theaters. In the interim, there were numerous changes both in front and behind of the camera, the most notable of these saw Benicio del Toro pick up a fat paycheck without a single frame being shot. In late 2003, Brian de Palma was in negotiations to direct a movie called Tru Blu, which by September 2004 had morphed into Antoine Fuqua's American Gangster starring Denzel Washington and Benicio del Toro.

The following month, only four weeks before principal photography was due to start, Fuqua was fired due to the standard-issue 'creative differences'. With the start date looming, Universal cut their losses and scrapped the project altogether at a cost of $30 million. As we all know, the project was eventually made by Ridley Scott, with Washington still on board and Russel Crowe replacing del Toro.

However, the latter was still paid $5 million thanks to a pay-or-play contract. Although Washington's deal saw him net $20 million when the project was cancelled, he remained on board and took a percentage of the profits instead when the movie was finally released. Del Toro on the other hand, simply collected his $5 million and moved on to other things. Benicio del Toro was only involved with American Gangster for five months from negotiations through to cancellation, and was paid a staggering amount of money for a movie he never even made.