Jean-Claude Van Damme Blew A $36 Million Film Deal After Demanding To Be Paid As Much As Jim Carrey

Highlights

• Van Damme's need for a higher wage led him to make a terrible resolution, turning down a $36 million.
• Despite his impressive box place of business luck, Van Damme failed to see the variation between his personal famous person power and Jim Carrey's higher attraction.
• Van Damme's aggressive means to negotiations had worked prior to now.

Jean-Claude Van Damme came along at the very best time to be a movie famous person. He had limited acting skill (at least, early on), and most of his appeal lied within the fantastic physical feats he used to be in a position to pull off due to his agility and energy. He benefited from the action renaissance of the 1980s and 90s, and became so well known in Hollywood that he made a cameo as himself on Friends (which proved to be a total disaster).

Van Damme's ambition helped to gasoline his luck, nevertheless it additionally led to him making some terrible selections. The actor turned down roles in blockbuster films, were given into fights with co-stars, and even managed to bungle a deal by which he would have been paid millions of bucks. Why? Well, according to Van Damme, it was once as a result of Jim Carrey was once getting paid extra.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's Attempt To Match Jim Carrey's Salary Led To A $36 Million Offer Being Recended In 1995

Jim Carrey was one of the vital largest stars on this planet in 1995. He used to be getting paid $20 million in keeping with film, and the box office receipts for Batman Forever and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls proved that he was price it. Jean-Claude Van Damme used to be also a megastar, however a lesser star. A side-by-side comparability of Carrey and Van Damme's mid-90s output bears this out:

Van Damme failed to see the adaptation. A Hollywood studio approached the actor and offered him a deal to make three films for $12 million a piece. He would be $36 million richer if he took the deal, but that is not what he did. Instead, he asked for $20 million in keeping with film. The actor talked concerning the incident all through an episode of his 2011 truth display Jean-Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors:

I gained a huge be offering for a three-picture deal, and it was once $12 million according to picture. I said 'I want $20 million like Jim Carrey' they usually hung up on me."

Jean-Claude Van Damme Became Famous By Doing Something That Would Get Most People Arrested

In short, Van Damme talked himself out of a $36 million deal. This was less than a year after he appeared on the cover of Movieline Magazine with the headline "The 8 Million Dollar Man." That was how much he was paid to appear in the critically maligned but financially successful film Street Fighter, and it would be the most he ever got paid for a single role.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Wanted An A-List Salary Because He Had Just Released His First $100 Million Film

In Jean-Claude Van Damme's defense, his aggressive approach had worked in the past. He was constantly asking for more money, according to Fandomwire, and his salary per film skyrocketed between 1990 and 1995:

Did Jean-Claude Van Damme Really Destroy An Actor's Career Out Of Jealousy? The Truth About The Unprofessional Allegations

Jean-Claude Van Damme was ascending, especially after the release of Timecop, which became his first film to gross $100 million at the global box office. The actor recalled feeling like he was on top of the world in 1995, which was a big part of why he felt emboldened to ask for $20 million per film. He told The Guardian that it was more about the Hollywood status than the actual pay:

"I used to be making movie after movie, and in between movies I used to be doing promotion. I was tired. Everything I was touching was once getting cash. Jim Carrey was being paid a fortune, and I needed to play with the gadget... It was once now not concerning the money."

The actor felt that his rejection of a $36 million deal led to him growing a dangerous recognition in Hollywood. "[I acted] like an idiot," he recalled. Ridiculous. I was on the blacklist, that was it." Van Damme persisted to ranking roles in motion motion pictures all through the second part of the Nineties, however the box place of business receipts steadily reduced in size, and the provides grew less widespread. Being categorised "difficult" did not assist.

Van Damme headlined the box administrative center bomb Universal Soldier: The Return in 1999, which most effective grossed $10.7 million on a $40 million price range. He was relegated to straight-to-DVD motion pictures for the next decade as a outcome.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Claimed He Was "Wasted" When He Was Offered The Deal And Regrets His Decision

Jean-Claude Van Damme managed a comeback within the past due 2000s and early 2010s, and used to be very candid about the mistakes he'd made all over his business top. One of these errors was once being beneath the affect of drugs and alcohol when he asked for $20 million according to film.

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The Truth About Jean-Claude Van Damme's Messy Personal And Professional Life

"I was completely f**ked up," he stated during his aforementioned fact sequence. "I was wasted, I was not myself." Not handiest did Van Damme's cocaine addiction cost him a $36 million contract, but it surely was once costing him $10K a week to care for. Steven E. de Souza directed Van Damme in Street Fighter, and he informed The Guardian that the dependancy made the actor inconceivable to paintings with:

"I couldn’t talk about it at the time, but I can now: [he] was coked out of his mind. The studio had hired a wrangler to take care of him, but unfortunately the wrangler was a bad influence."

Van Damme used to be arrested for riding beneath the influence in 1999, but he in the end were given blank and rebuilt his appearing profession.

He voiced characters in the animated comedies Kung-Fu Panda 3 (2016) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2020), which might go on to turn out to be the highest-grossing films of his career, and Celebrity Net Worth claimed that he used to be paid $1.5 million for his villainous turn within the motion film The Expendables 2 (2012).

Van Damme is happy with where he ended up. In 2021, he advised The Netflix Film Club that he's been "lucky in this business" and is grateful to nonetheless be relevant, which is a a long way cry from the guy who misplaced tens of millions within the pursuit of extra money.

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