Actor Heath Ledger was in the middle of shooting the Terry Gilliam movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, when the famed Dark Knight actor lost his life due to an accidental overdose.
Ledger had been instrumental in the movie being made – his starring in it was one of the major reasons the whole movie was financed.
By the time of Ledger’s untimely passing, Gilliam had already shot large parts of the movie. Upon hearing of the death, Gilliam’s first thought was: “The film’s over, it’s as simple as that.”
Filming was halted indefinitely as Gilliam worked on a way to complete it – ultimately coming to a decision: as the movie had a magical motif already, they could change the appearance of Ledger’s character, morphing into someone else entirely; Ledger would remain as the character in the real-world segments, but the new actors would step in when the movie across other magical realms.
And, so, three actors were brought on to star in these segments: Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law.
With the three actors now involved, filming was able to conclude and the movie was released on the 22nd of May, 2009.
Now, on to the question at hand: Who is the actor whose payment for one movie will shock you?
These three actors were brought in at the last minute – all are heavy hitters and at the peak of their careers.
So, you’d imagine they received heft payouts, right?
No.
All three actors – Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell, not only decided to waive their fee, they all agreed to give all of their earnings to Ledger’s young daughter, Matilda.
That’s right: these three heavy-weight actors gave away 100% of their earnings to Ledger’s daughter, so they could help whatever way they could.
And that’s pretty beautiful, isn’t it?