Sahara Actors Blamed For Doubled Budget
Posted by Rodneyon 18. 04. 2007in News Chat
Author VS. Studio in court today over the train wreck losses of Sahara. We get the news and the numbers from the halls of
Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz have been accused of causing the $80 million budget for action film Sahara to double because of their vanity. The claims appear in legal documents released as part of a bitter court battle between Crusader Entertainment boss Philip Anschutz and Clive Cussler, author of Sahara.
The leaked document, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, shows $420,000 was spent on the movie’s leading actors, including $105,000 on bottled water and $54,000 on a “facial disease specialist.” Other expenses for the 2005 movie – which recorded losses of $105 million – included filming the $2 million crash of a vintage airplane in a 46-second sequence which never made it into the final cut.
When you lose money, going to court never seems like a good idea. In the long run, most of the time both parties simply stand to lose more money. Before you go to court – it should be mandatory to watch the money pit starring Tom Hanks.
What is of interest to me is the ridiculous costs that are give in list form. 105,00 on bottled water seems a little excessive – even for work in the Sahara. With most items you can swing a deal when you buy in bulk – I am wondering what kind of bottled water they were drinking; I am wondering if that bottled water was actually unicorn spit.
What the hell is a facial disease specialist, and why do you need one on set. If I get a disease – on my face, I would like to think I would be able to catch the warning signs all by myself and then drive to a hospital. I would hate to be in a place where face disease is such a serious and looming issue for me that I require a face doctor around me at all times. It is like bringing your own abortion doctor with you to sexual rendezvous.
The most retarded think on the list is the 2 Million dollar plane crash that didn’t make it into the final edit.
Call me old fashioned, but when you crash a plane for a film – put it in the movie. I don’t care if the scene even makes sense for the film, you just spent 2 million dollars! I am hard pressed to think of when a plane crash is ever a bad idea in a film – people love crashes (just watch AFV).
I guess you could draw a parallel from the plane crash to the film, both were expensive – and neither crash nor film were seen.
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Rodney who has written 8899 posts on The Movie Blog
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those expenses for the actors are really ridiculous, but even adding those numbers up doesn’t add up to 40 million dollars. are the actors to blame for that plane crash scene being cut out?
im pretty sure penelope cruz’s ugly spolied ass was the culprit. she probably demanded mars water personally blessed by the pope at hand 24/7.
Clive Cussler needs to let this one go. I know it sucks when somebody else screws up your idea, but he’s only making it worse. My advice to him would, let the film rights exprie, award them to somebody else with brains and DON’T LET MATTHEW McCONAUHEY ANYWHERE NEAR IT!
Reign of Fire, Sahara, We Are Marshall. They guy’s box-office poison.
IMHO McConauhey was most responsible for how this flick turned out. He thought he was a producer and just showed that he’s not. I know Tom Cruise makes it look like any pretty-boy actor can do it, but Tom’s as much a businessman and auteur as he is an actor.
Oh, and I agree that Penelope Cruz is funny-lookin’. She probably didn’t sink the movie, but she damn sure didn’t help.
This is getting really good and juicy. I always wondered what are the real “production” costs of making a movie. If these guys are going to detail every nickel and dime that was spent making this film I bet more seedier and juicier stuff will come out of it.
RIGHT WAY:
I think you are mistaken about how attractive Mrs. Cruz is.
WRONG WAY:
If you think Cruz is ugly, then I think you have a case of the GAY!!
Just going over the comment section rules in case anyone missed it.
Nord
I’m sure a lot of A-list actors have riders with more extravagance than the stars of Sahara do. Do you really think that actors like Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Halle Berry, Nicolas Cage (and many others) would get pampered less than McConaughey & Cruz? I doubt it.
It’s just that those contracts don’t (and probably never will) see the light of day, and that’s how studios & talent want it.
…oh yeah, and one more thing….
Hey, could someone PLEEEEASE remove those brown M&M’s from the bowl? Thanks so much….
sounds like superman returns and the edited out $8 million return to krypton sequence.
Sahara was a terrible movie, it doesnt matter anymore
it sucked
Great post, Nord.
I think Penelope Cruz is one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood. I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I got kinda tired of all the idio… err, people calling her funny looking and stuff.
I will agree, I don’t see the big thing over Cruz, Selma is waaay more attractive to me.
I will say, maybe a bad idea here, that I enjoyed Sahara. Couldn’t care less about McConauhay or Cruz, Steve Zahn made it work for me.
I love that everyone jumps on the actors for the budget expense, but when you’re only given a small glimpse of the BS expenditures, you only get a part of the story.
I’m sure the water wasn’t just for the two “stars”;
$105,000 for water isn’t a lot of money to spend on an entire film crew, on location, in a dessert for an extended period of time;
Facial disease, probably more commonly known as lepracy, is still around in Africa and parts of the Mid-East. A “facial doctor” could be another name for “make sure I don’t get that shit” doctor;
OK, two lead actors spent $420 000, but where’s the remaining $79.58 million;
$420 000, but does that include salary?
Too many questions arise.