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anephric_1 t1_ixygp39 wrote

Reply to comment by Seienchin88 in TIL for the Untouchables Brian De Palma casted Bob Hoskins in case De Niro could not appear. De Palma mailed Hoskins a check for his contracted fee of $200,000 with a "Thank You" note, which prompted Hoskins to call up De Palma and ask him if there were any more films he didn't want him to be in. by KongoOtto

Pay-or-Play requires that the person be available for that block of time, so if they could have been making another film and lost their going rate because of the Pay-or-Play falling through, they get paid regardless, because it may be too late to get attached to another project.

It seems ludicrous but it makes sense when you're dealing with people at this level and talent having to pencil in months on their calendar when they've booked work.

John Carpenter commented he could've made a perfectly fine living in Hollywood writing and selling scripts that never got anywhere near being greenlit. Just being paid well to write things maybe ten people would read.

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