Stars' Salaries: Worth the Money?

Reuters gives a summary of Entertainment Weekly's rating of top stars on whether or not they are worth their hefty salaries. The soaring salaries of some talents are making movies prohibitively expensive: Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell are just some of the stars who are going to have to reevaluate their asking prices. The sheer paycheck numbers alone ($20-25 million and more) boggle my mind; can you imagine being the movie studio accountant for a star-filled ensemble flick like Ocean's Eleven?

EW quoted movie executives "as saying the rising cost of production has led many stars to take large parts of their fees from revenue and profit participation that may never materialize if films flop at box offices." So, even if Carrey doesn't get $25 million upfront per film, he can always make it up in the percentage of the film's take; how sorry can we feel for him?

Ah, but the movie-going public can be so fickle. Perhaps it's time for stars to live more modestly; look at Rachel McAdams and Jake Gyllenhaal, these actors are "bargains" according to the report, working for a mere $4 million and $7 million respectively. I just don't know how they cover the costs of their assistants, personal trainers, stylists, cooks, private drivers . . .