The five-minute performance that earned Meryl Streep $3 million
No offence intended to the highest-paid stars in Hollywood, but it’s not always the best actors who make the most money. However, thanks in part to her status as a living legend, Meryl Streep managed to earn millions for what equated to a few minutes of screentime in the only sequel of her career.
In recent years, names including Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Vin Diesel, Chris Hemsworth, and Keanu Reeves have all been named among the top-earning names in the industry. They’re all good at what they do, but it still doesn’t read as the sort of line-up capable of troubling the Academy Awards on any given year.
Of course, top-tier thespians who can also draw in a crowd have struck a balance between raking in millions for crowd-pleasing blockbusters and character-driven dramas – with Denzel Washington arguably the single most prominent example based on his critical and commercial track record – but Streep has only ever made one action movie and isn’t exactly a regular presence in hard-boiled thrillers or slapstick comedies.
Regardless, Mamma Mia! is comfortably the most lucrative entry in her filmography by far, after the ABBA-inspired musical hit a mighty $585million at the box office in 2008. In addition to a Golden Globe nomination in the ‘Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy’ category, the star is reported to have earned a cool $7.5m for her all-singing and all-dancing performance as Donna Sheridan.
Naturally, a sequel was placed into development, but Streep’s contributions to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again were whittled down significantly. Despite her screentime being reduced to roughly five minutes of the 114-minute film, the sole follow-up she’s ever signed on for reportedly netted her $3m. While she would have been on set for at least a few days, it’s an impressive payday.
That’s roughly $600,000 being put directly into Streep’s pocket for every minute she’s on-screen, or $10,000 a second. It’s great work for anybody who can find themselves in a position to get it, but that’s just one of the many perks that come with being ranked among the finest performers in cinema history. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again did earn substantially less than its predecessor after failing to clear $400m in ticket sales, so it wasn’t quite a bulletproof investment.
That being said, as creator and producer Judy Craymer put it to IndieWire, convincing her to do it in the first place was enough: “She’s the most lauded actress and the most extraordinary actress in the world so she doesn’t do sequels, so to speak,” she noted. “I think it was like, what would she be doing in there? And it had to be something really interesting.” Whether interesting or not, $3m for five minutes is enough to twist anybody’s arm.
