Owen Wilson Refused an MCU-Level Salary in a Controversial Movie For a Valid Reason
The actor opted for his conscience.
Summary:
- Owen Wilson has been a part of the MCU for a while now, but his recent big-deal offer outside of the superhero universe would probably make his Marvel co-stars feel envy.
- Wilson was recently offered a role for a generous salary of $12 million, but the actor shut it down guided by his moral principles.
- The movie indeed follows a very controversial story about the 1990s’ scandalous murder trial.
Owen Wilson may have been in the MCU ever since he joined Loki led by Tom Hiddleston back in 2021, but the actor recently got an offer that most of the Marvel’s stars can’t boast of.
Seemingly a one-in-a-million opportunity that would make him a fortune, the offer was nonetheless quick to be shut down — and the problem here lies in the upcoming movie’s very controversial storyline.
Apart from being one of Hollywood’s biggest actors with a lot of acclaimed works under his belt, Owen Wilson, to his fans’ pure delight, also appears to be a man of his word with solid morality.
As director Joshua Newton has recently revealed, Wilson turned down his generous offer of $12 million to star in Newton’s upcoming crime thriller The Juice. The film will presumably tell the truth about O.J. Simpson’s scandalous arrest following his wife Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, Newton said that he was strongly considering Owen Wilson for the role of real-life lawyer Douglas McCann who back in the day had dived deep into numerous conspiracy theories surrounding O.J. Simpson’s 1995 trial.
The director admitted that looking for an actor that would portray McCann was one of the biggest challenges that eventually made the movie’s production so protracted — and, in his opinion, Wilson “was perfect for the role”.
Everything indeed seemed to work out for Newton at first: the director managed to get a personal meeting with Wilson while the latter’s agent had liked the script and wanted the actor to land the role.
During the lunch, Newton officially offered Wilson a generous salary of $12 million — but, to the former’s surprise, the actor stood up and made his goodbye gesture by saying “If you think I’m going to take the lead role in a movie about how O.J. didn’t do it, you’ve got to be kidding me”.
Eventually everyone involved managed to get what they wanted (or didn’t) — Newton found another “spot on” actor for the role (he’s not revealing yet who this actor is) while Wilson is probably having a good sleep at night knowing that his principles weren’t tempted by a huge amount of money.
Now Newton cherishes a hope to have his movie released by October 3, 2025 — the date that will mark 30 years since O.J. Simpson was declared not guilty.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter