With the SAG-AFTRA strike continuing, actor John Cusack (“Con Air,” “1408,” “Love and Mercy”) has shared a story on Twitter talking about how colorful Hollywood accounting is from the studios and slamming them for their greed.
Back in 1989, the actor starred in Cameron Crowe’s classic teen romance film “Say Anything” about an average high school student (Cusack) who falls for the class valedictorian (Ione Skye) after graduation.
The film features the iconic scene of Cusack holding a boombox above his head outside her bedroom window to let her know he’s still in love with her.
The movie wasn’t a big earner at the time, taking in $20 million at the box-office at the time, but was a critical darling and has had s strong legacy.
In his posting, Cusack reveals he has received no percentage of the film’s box office gross. In fact, he was told by the studio that the movie actually lost $44 million – a claim he’s sceptical about:
“Somehow I got points – net, not gross. Never expected to see any money – but the film became quite famous. So about 10 years ago, I looked again at the financial statements they were obligated to report and to my shock they claimed they had LOST 44 million dollars on the film.
I thought wow, I almost bankrupted Fox! (not really). The film cost about 13 million to make – and money spent to release was minimal at the time – 30 years in – that film lost millions every year! A neat accounting trick don’t ya think?”
In a separate tweet he slammed the AMPTP’s reported terms on the use of A.I. as it pertains to background actors.
SAG-AFTRA members are currently joining the Writers Guild of America in striking for fair compensation – the first ‘double strike’ in Hollywood since 1960.
