This Mission: Impossible Actor Got Paid $7.7M For 2 Work Days (It's Not Tom Cruise)
The paycheck of this actor was so big that it set a new record in the history of cinema.
When it comes to the biggest pay checks, Tom Cruise comes to mind first. However, his Mission: Impossible co-star Ving Rhames can compete with the cult actor.
Ving Rhames is the only actor besides Cruise to have appeared in all seven Mission: Impossible movies. He portrayed an experienced hacker, Luther Stickell, who worked alongside Ethan Hunt. However, the actor almost did not set this record.
Ving initially had doubts about his participation in the fourth film, Ghost Protocol – in one of the interviews he mentioned that the budget had changed and that could be the reason for his absence.
Apparently, however, the filmmakers needed Ving's character so badly that they were willing to pay him exorbitant sums just so the actor could spend two days on the set. Rhames received a whopping $7.7 million for his supporting role as Luther in Ghost Protocol.
Thus, Ving Rhames appears to be the highest paid actor for the least amount of screen time in history.
Ghost Protocol has received many positive comparisons to the 007 saga. The secret to its success lies in the appointment of Brad Bird as director. How could the creator of The Incredibles make a bad spy movie?
Bird's experience at Pixar allowed him to create not just good but truly spectacular action sequences. After the brutal brawls of the previous films, the fights in Protocol resemble graceful dances with weapons in hands, and the scene with the Burj Khalifa skyscraper is already one of the most exciting stunts in the franchise's history.
Although Bird's choice of direction now seems quite understandable, it was a serious risk in 2010 – the film was the director's debut in the live-action world.
In addition, Bird had previously worked on more lightweight projects, and in the previous parts of Mission: Impossible there were not so many jokes. Fortunately, changing the tone of the franchise to a lighter one proved to be a huge success.
The movie grossed an impressive $694 million, which was definitely enough to recoup Ving Rhames' fee.