4 Actors Who Were Paid A Fortune For Surprisingly Little Work

Marlon Brando made roughly $19 million for about 20 minutes in Superman

Brando was paid $3.7 million plus a cut of the profits to play Jor-El, Superman's father, for around 12 days of work and less than 20 minutes of screen time. Once the box office receipts rolled in, his total payday reportedly reached about $19 million — more than the film's actual stars, Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman, combined.

Alec Guinness took a 2.25% cut of Star Wars instead of a bigger flat fee — and made nearly $100 million

Guinness reportedly considered the Star Wars script "clunky fairy tale rubbish" but negotiated 2% of the film's box office gross as Obi-Wan Kenobi, with George Lucas personally sweetening it to 2.25%. For less than 20 minutes of screen time, that stake is estimated to have earned him around $100 million over his lifetime, as every re-release and sequel kept adding to the total.

Jack Nicholson made up to $90 million playing the Joker in 1989's Batman

Nicholson took a relatively modest $6 million upfront salary in exchange for a percentage of the box office and merchandise revenue — an almost unheard-of structure for a superhero movie in 1989. When Batman became one of the biggest hits of the decade, that deal reportedly paid him somewhere between $60 million and $90 million.

Arnold Schwarzenegger made $25 million for a 5-minute cameo

Schwarzenegger appeared as Prince Hapi for roughly five minutes in the 2004 adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days — and was reportedly paid $25 million for it, working out to around $5 million per minute of screen time.