Hollywood actress Taraji P. Henson has revealed that she hardly made anything for her part in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
Henson made $150,000 from the movie. But she says that when all was said and done, she really only took home about $50,000.
“When you start making that kind of money Uncle Sam takes 50 %, so let’s do the math,” she said on “The Real.”
“So that leaves me with $75,000, then I have to pay another 30% to my team who did all the work to get me that job. So, I don’t pay them the 30 percent of the $75,000…I pay them 30% of the $150,000.”
It may seem like a decent amount, but the movie took five months to film and meant that Henson was not available for other gigs. Her Hollywood costars took home millions.
“OK, so let’s break it down like this: You have twelve months in a year to make your money right. If you do a film for five months that takes you off the market for anything else or any other kind of coin until you’re done with that show,” she explained.
The star says the amount was barely enough to pay her son’s tuition.
“I chose my son’s education over fancy cars and all those things, and so literally for five months, that’s what I made, his tuition,” she said. “Now what? I gotta hit the pavement again and I gotta scrounge up another check, so that is how it works.”
She once again recalled Tyler Perry paying $500,000. The first time she’d ever received such a high amount for a movie.
“That was what I was asking for,” she said. “I wasn’t a greedy person. I understood the game, I know that I can’t make as much as a certain person that’s been in the game longer than me, has proven box office success. I am proving myself still, but at the same time, I’m not going to belittle myself and my worth. I know that I can at least bring you $500,000 in ticket sales, if not more.”
Henson had asked the movie creators for $500,000 but $150,000 was their highest offer. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” had a budget of $167 million and grossed $335.8 million.
