| Does
fame lead to fortune? | | |
| Timing is
everything
If you can't win when you're really young, in your first
film, then the next-best option is when you're in a slump.
Marlon Brando's finances got a
boost from the Oscar several times. He made just $40,000 for his
first film, "The Men." He got $75,000 for "A Streetcar
Named Desire." But then, Levy points out, he won an Oscar for
"On the Waterfront" -- finally, on his fourth nomination.
And so, he earned $500,000 a film in 1954.
In
1972, "The Godfather" revitalized his career. And this time, the Oscar,
which he declined, bumped him up to a million bucks a film, in 30-years-ago dollars. Today's
stars also get post-Oscar financial makeovers. "For example,
Swank won two Oscars in five years for the only two good movies she had,"
Levy says. "She was in decline at 26 or 27, and then Clint Eastwood, with
a good eye, saw something in her that other directors did not. And then came 'Million
Dollar Baby.'" And so Swank was in again. "An
Oscar is like a seal of approval. It means you're not just a bankable star or
a movie star, but it means you're a good actor respected by your peers."
The sound guy and the costume
designer
Though actors may rake it in, the little people don't get much out
of a blockbuster prize-winning film.
"The
only ones who benefit are the producer, the director and the screen talent,"
says Levy. "A cameraman will get more money, but not that much more.
"It's like what Marx said: The rich get richer."
The only exceptions
are writers. "It can triple," Levy says. 'Writers can command $1 million
to $2 million per picture if they win an Oscar in a high-profile movie." If
you need fantasy examples, he's got them. "Akiva Goldman's
paycheck doubled in 'A Beautiful Mind.' He can get a million per movie." Banking
on Broadway
The Oscars may make you think acting pays off, but it depends
where you act. Broadway marquees may congratulate Tony winners,
but the actors' bankers are not always as impressed as theater audiences are. "With
the Tony, it really depends on the person and their particular talent -- where
it leads them and how they handle it," says David Sheward, a theater critic
in New York and the managing editor at Backstage, a publication aimed at actors.
"Just winning a Tony is, in and of itself, not
going to get you paid more."
For
one thing, there's no cash award with a Tony. Just a medal.
One factor, Sheward says, is the part you played in
the first place. If it's a "star-making part," and you
can use it to do other things, then it's helpful, he says.
An example, he says, is "Kristen Chenoweth, who
won a Tony for 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,'" Sheward
says. "The show flopped, but she got attention and notices
and she started appearing in TV and movies.
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