History Main / MoneyDearBoy

* Creator/JohnGielgud: [[MediaNotes/TheEGOTs Emmy winner. Grammy winner. Oscar winner. Tony winner]]. Acclaimed actor and director. Knight of the realm. Connoisseur of [[https://youtu.be/bhZv8aIr55k fine champagne]]. By one account, he was paid one million dollars for a single day's work.
** He originally and consistently refused to star in ''Film/{{Arthur 1981}}'', but the producers kept upping his fee until he really couldn't turn it down. In the end, he won an Academy Award for the role. He returned for a cameo in the sequel, presumably for even ''more'' money. Despite the acclaim that he received, Gielgud stated that he didn't find any of the material even slightly funny or interesting.
** By most accounts, Gielgud thought little of film acting generally and mainly took roles for money, regardless of their quality. Which explains his participation in ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot''.

There's also the common practice of recognizable actors turning up in indie films of varying quality "for scale". The term "for scale" means the minimum daily rate for actors guaranteed by the Screen Actors Guild, thus the opposite of this trope. When more notable actors do this, it's usually because they wanted to establish themself in a dramatic role (like the example with Creator/DakotaFanning and ''Film/{{Hounddog}}'', where her character infamously ''got raped''). This doesn't stop them from becoming controversial among people, though.

* When asked why he did ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', Jaye Davidson said, "I needed the money."
** Originally, he had no intention of acting again after ''Film/TheCryingGame''. So when he was offered a role in ''Stargate'', he insisted on a $1 million salary, figuring there'd be no way they'd be willing to pay him that much. But his offer was accepted, and he decided that it'd be nice to have some financial security, so he took the role.
** Ditto for [[http://www.gateworld.net/movies/01.shtml James Spader]], who found the script "awful".

* Creator/JamesSpader claims that this is the reason why he did his gig on ''Series/{{The Office|US}}''. He's also open about having a low opinion of the script for ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', in which he played Daniel Jackson. He has famously said that acting is about being paid for his hobby:
--> '''James Spader''': You're getting paid for your hobby. I just became an actor.
** And also:
--> '''James Spader''': I have a history and I'm not very responsible economically. I have a history working on films for years and years, and by the time I was starting the next film, I was starting from zero again. Television is the best earner. So the idea of knowing that the bills are going to be paid.
** And finally:
--> '''James Spader''': Acting, for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-labourist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] money.

* Arab-American comedian and actor Ahmed Ahmed has a [[https://youtu.be/eA2-mxsMUtw stand-up bit]] where he talks about getting offered the role of Terrorist #4 in a [[Film/ExecutiveDecision Hollywood movie]] (after [[SpringtimeForHitler attempting to troll the audition]] by playing the role as mockingly over-the-top as possible). Ahmed describes that his first reaction was to reject the role on principle because every time an ethnic actor takes a stereotypical role, it just perpetuates the problem... until his agent informed him that he would be paid $30,000 for a week of work, at which point he [[EveryManHasHisPrice promptly signed on.]]

* Creator/KateMulgrew (Janeway from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'') defended herself after doing the voiceover for a geocentrist documentary trailer by stating that [[https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151985862292466&id=7122967465 she was simply a voice for hire]] and wouldn't even have taken the job if she'd known what the documentary in question was actually about or who was involved in making it.

* There's a lot of European football/soccer teams which often try and invoke this trope to get reputable players, the idea being those good players will give the club instant success. This also explains why such non-traditional soccer markets such as Russia, Ukraine, and all of the rich countries of the Arabian Peninsula (even tiny Bahrain and Qatar!) can attract big names -- for players who sign with clubs in the Arab regions, isolation and/or scorching hot weather are not a problem when [[ArabOilSheikh oil money]] goes straight into your pocket. China, the fastest-growing economy, also hires a lot of good if aging stars who sign on for similar reasons.
* The American soccer league MLS often brings in players from European leagues who are well past their prime for more than they would make as an aging star in the European Leagues with their diminished skill. Usually these players can lend some star power to the league, and these players are typically still much more skilled than the players in MLS since soccer is a fringe sport in America at best and doesn't draw elite players. (Elite players in their prime can make much more money in Europe, and any American who is skilled enough to play at an elite level is over in Europe anyway.) It's a nice little trade off. The aging star is well known enough to draw some eyes to the product, and usually is fairly dominant playing against the lower competition level in MLS.

** After the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes (now the Arizona Coyotes) filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the city of Glendale, Arizona, which owns and operates Gila River Arena (then known as Jobing.com Arena), paid the NHL $75 million over three seasons (from the 2010-11 season to the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season) for the Coyotes to remain in Arizona while the league searched for a new owner, preferably one committed to keeping the team in Arizona. [[note]]The payment for the 2011-12 season was also another factor behind the Atlanta Thrashers' relocation. True North Sports and Entertainment originally intended to buy and move the Coyotes to Winnipeg (as the Coyotes were the ''original'' Winnipeg Jets) if the league failed to find a buyer to keep the team in Glendale; however, the Glendale city council elected to cover the Coyotes' losses for another season.[[/note]] Eventually, it worked, as a new buyer was found in 2013.
*** In 2024 the Coyotes were sold to the owners of the Utah Jazz and the as yet unnamed team will be playing in Salt Lake City starting with the 2024-25 season. The new Utah club will be treated as an expansion team and the Coyote's trademarks and [=IP's=] will be retained by the former ownership, in hopes of receiving an expansion team if a new arena in the Phoenix area can be built.

* Creator/JeremyIrons' appearances in ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000'' and ''Film/{{Eragon}}'' are motivated either by this or a desire to be [[FascinatingEyebrow out-acted by his eyebrows.]] It's a toss-up. According to Wikiquote, when asked why he took his ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role, Irons replied: "Are you kidding? I'd just bought a castle, I had to pay for it somehow!"

* Creator/DorisDay's sole foray into series television ''The Doris Day Show'' (1968-73) owes its existence to this trope. And her late husband[[note]]Who had her signed her to do the series '''without''' her knowledge had left her financially destitute. [[FromBadToWorse And she owed the IRS a ton in back taxes]].

** Later on as Wrestling/MollyHolly she was WWE's resident Diva ButtMonkey (largely due to her unwillingness to be MsFanservice like the other women they had) but she ended up staying in WWE because it was good money. After a breast cancer scare in 2005, she realized how unhappy she really was there and when WWE refused to let her do the one thing that would have made it bearable for her (a HeelFaceTurn, as she never liked being a heel and had wanted to be a good role model) she asked for her release and retired from wrestling. She's now working for WWE as an agent/producer and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021, and even made a (''very'' brief) return to the ring in the 2022 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble''.

** In 2016, an expansion team was granted to UsefulNotes/LasVegas (who would be dubbed the Vegas Golden Knights), an area untapped by major leagues[[note]]To further emphasize the "money over values" aspect of this trope, part of the reason why Las Vegas had been untapped by all the "Big Four" leagues (NHL, [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]], [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball MLB]], and [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]]) for nearly ''a century'' was because all of these leagues felt that Las Vegas' gambling culture would undermine the integrity of the game. Following the success of the Golden Knights, the NFL and MLB would later allow the UsefulNotes/{{Oakland}} Raiders and Athletics, respectively, to relocate to Vegas, largely due to this trope (as both teams wanted a new stadium that would be better for their business)[[/note]] instead of Quebec City due to the huge fee that would be shared with the 30 other teams. While Quebec City is a traditional hockey market, the crowded area and Canadian dollar uncertainties that already drove the previous team away in 1995 made granting a franchise for a expansion team there somehow riskier; also, a Quebec expansion team would likely require an existing team in the Eastern Conference to move west, which is why UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} got the 32nd slot, which required simply moving one team in the Pacific Division to the Central.

* Creator/AlexTrebek signed onto host the short-lived 1981 game show ''Series/{{Pitfall}}'' after going through a bitter divorce coupled with the passing of his father. Despite leaping over several legal hurdles in his native Canada to get the job, the second of his two paychecks bounced due to parent company Catalena Productions [[TroubledProduction going bankrupt mid-production]]. All was not lost as he went onto host ''Series/{{Battlestars}}'' for NBC later that same year.

* Creator/ChristopherPriestComics did a mini-series in the '90s called ''Total Justice'', which was a [[MerchandiseDriven tie-in to a popular Batman toy line at the time]]. Today, Priest considers the series an OldShame and is adamant that he only agreed to write it because promotional books offer a better pay rate.

* Wrestling/{{Sting}} had no interest in wrestling as a youth and didn't even know what it was because, according to him during his appearance on [[Wrestling/JimRoss ''The Ross Report'']], he lived in an area where wrestling wasn't shown on TV. He heard the name Wrestling/HulkHogan but didn't know who he was until he started working out in his gym. When Borden was approached to become a wrestler, he admits that only did it for the money and fame. Needless to say, he eventually developed a genuine love for wrestling. With that in mind, Sting's talents don't come cheaply (he was reportedly the highest-paid wrestler in WCW for many years, to the point where Wrestling/ScottHall referred to his initial offering as "Sting money") and the reason he left TNA in 2014 and finally joined WWE at least ten years too late was that TNA was in a financial mess and could no longer afford to pay him, along with many other of its top talent.

* Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura's WWE run has been derided for how poorly he was used after being called up to the main roster in 2017 and many fans expected him to leave the promotion when his contract came up in 2021; possibly to return to Japan or join the then-fledgling AEW. Instead he signed an extension, despite never being pushed to a consistent main-event level like he was in his native Japan. Nakamura has said that he used to wrestler for "art", now he's wresting for "money". So whatever WWE is paying him to be a midcard gatekeeper must be better than the offers he was getting from Japan or any other promotion.

* After Creator/BruceWillis' A-list career [[StarDerailingRole flatlined]] with ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'' in 2013, the majority of his output became AdvertisedExtra roles in DirectToVideo films, culminating in seven of those in 2021. While it was clear that he was being well paid to work little, many fans still wondered why Willis was taking these jobs given how they were dragging down his reputation, to the point that in 2021, the UsefulNotes/{{Golden Raspberry Award}}s created a special category just to make fun of his movies. Those questions were seemingly answered in 2022 when Willis retired from acting, with family members citing aphasia and later admitting it had progressed into full-blown dementia. With that, the consensus on Willis' late-period career suddenly turned darker and more tragic: that he took the roles knowing he had little time left, and wanting to make enough money to retire comfortably while he was still able to work, something that led many who previously mocked him over his career decisions to apologize -- the Razzies retracted their special category out of respect for Willis, while Website/{{Cracked}} unlisted a [=YouTube=] video called "The Brucie Awards" which mocked Willis' direct-to-video film roles.

** One of Welles' last roles was voicing the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' villain Unicron. While both the character and the performance are unforgettable, Welles himself viewed the production with contempt and could only recall it was a movie about "toys killing each other."

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'': Featuring the voice talents of Creator/OrsonWelles, Creator/LeonardNimoy, and Creator/EricIdle, among others, in what can best be described as an [[MerchandiseDriven 80-minute toy commercial]]. They were ''all'' in it for the money.

** On the ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' film, Creator/HugoWeaving has [[http://collider.com/hugo-weaving-the-hobbit-trilogy-interview/203015/ casually admitted]] to phoning in his performance as Megatron. He seems guilty about it.

--> None of the writing on this series, in my opinion, was good or passionate or, sometimes (my own included, like “The Autobot Run”) even adequate. But we got paid well for writing them fast.

** Berry received a $500,000 bonus on top of her base salary for ''Film/{{Swordfish}}'' in exchange for agreeing to bare her breasts on-camera. (Giving new meaning to FanerviceExtra)

** Berry received a $500,000 bonus on top of her base salary for ''Film/{{Swordfish}}'' in exchange for agreeing to bare her breasts on-camera.

* Creator/DorisDay's sole foray into series television ''The Doris Day Show'' (1968-73) owes its existence to this trope. Her late husband[[note]]Who had her signed her to do the series '''without''' her knowledge had left her financially destitute. [[FromBadToWorse And she owed the IRS a ton in back taxes]].

However, should a cash-in movie end up DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible, both the audience and the critics are likely to be notably less forgiving than they would be while judging a bad movie with original, artistic premise marred by flawed execution. As a result, rather paradoxically, an artist who takes the job for the money is perhaps best trying to put in a decent (or at least entertaining) performance even in a movie that doesn't match up to their standards. Thus, they're likely to elicit more respect from the audience if they TookTheBadFilmSeriously or end up ChewingTheScenery with HamAndCheese than if they took the money but made it clear through their performance that they couldn't care less for anything but the paycheck.