14 DAY TRIAL // One of the hottest films right now is undoubtedly the star-studded romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day,” directed by Garry Marshall and starring anyone and everyone from Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Biel to reported former sweethearts Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift. The film also includes an extended cameo from Julia Roberts, arguably one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood: and that she is, the New York Mag Vulture says, having received no less than $3 million for her small part.
The film aims to present how people react to Valentine’s Day, this now-international lovefest. This explains the star-studded cast, which was apparently seen by the producers and the movie studio as a guaranteed recipe for success, otherwise one could hardly explain the math the Post came up with. Julia Roberts got about $500,000 per minute of screen time, which means about $11,952 for each word she utters in front of the camera. As if this wasn’t enough, Roberts also got 3 percent of total grossing under her contract for her part of about 6 minutes on film, estimates say.
“New Line Cinema paid Roberts $3 million up front against 3 percent of the gross for what is little more than an extended cameo. That comes out to an astonishing $8,333 per second of screen time, or roughly $500,000 a minute. Verbally, it's a minimum of $11,952 per spoken word,” the publication states. However, this could very well not be money down the drain. “Yet even that may turn out to be a bargain, considering the Pretty Woman imprimatur: That movie is practically a religious icon to any female who's ever wept love-lorn into a pint of Ben & Jerry's while wearing sweatpants, cursing men, and pantomiming other stereotypically estrogen-saturated chestnuts gleaned from years of watching movies much like Valentine's Day. Eleven years ago, when Roberts and Marshall reteamed for Runaway Bride (albeit with Richard Gere, too), it grossed $309 million worldwide,” NY Mag further writes.
“Insiders tell us that Roberts agreed to appear in the film as a favor to Marshall, who'd made her a star. After Roberts jumped in, casting the rest of the film was much easier, and Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Taylors Lautner and Swift, McSteamy and McDreamy et al signed on quickly. However, with the exception of Jamie Foxx (who we hear is a gross participant along with Marshall and Roberts), her co-stars were paid their usual quote, pro-rated to however many days they filmed,” the mag goes on to report.
Julia Roberts, for one, spent about 3 days on the set of the film. This might seem like a very short while but it was the only way in which the movie studio was able to get this many stars on board the same project, given that the short time needed on set allowed for their schedules to remain almost unperturbed. Analysts are saying “Valentine’s Day” is bound to make over $50 million domestically over this weekend: if so, paying Julia Roberts so much money seems to have been a wise investment.