Jim Carrey Earned Gargantuan $50 Million Paycheck By Gambling His Salary For 36.2% Stake in $223M Zooey Deschanel Comedy
Jim Carrey is one legendary man. The man established himself as a veteran in comedy with films like The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. There is another slightly lesser-known comedy that he was a part of, but one that earned him a really impressive paycheck. It was the 2008 romantic comedy Yes Man which had Carrey starring alongside actors like Bradley Cooper and Zooey Deschanel. And it is popularly known that the 61-year-old did not take remuneration for the film either and still managed to pocket some big bucks.
Jim Carrey took a big gamble for the hit 2008 romcom Yes Man
Yes Man was loosely based on a book by British comedian, Danny Wallace, and the non-fictitious account revolved around a man who realizes one day that he says ‘no’ a lot. Suffering from low self-esteem, he seeks help from a guru and then resolves to say ‘yes’ to everything. Inevitably, his new life decision leads to a series of awkward and hilarious moments that forms the crux of the film.
The 2008 release won some mixed reviews but scored really well at the box office. Against a budget of $70 million, it earned a gross of $223 million.
However, the $70 million budget did not include a significant expenditure, which was The Truman Show actor’s salary. And it was none other than Jim Carrey‘s decision to not take a basic paycheck and instead go for a high-risk-high-reward opportunity.
Yes Man gave Jim Carrey a bigger paycheck than his other successful projects
Seeing how well the film did at the box office, we can safely say that Carrey’s gamble paid off.
The movie earned a gross profit of $153 million if we subtract that $70 million budget from the $223 million earnings. If one calculates Carrey’s stake, his cut comes out to be almost $55 million, although the exact amount he received isn’t known publicly. As per the reports, he received something between $35 million and $50 million for the film.
Source: LadBible
