The Oscar-winning movie Bob Hoskins was paid $200,000 not to star in
The best actors, the biggest stars, and the most nameworthy directors get paid a lot of money for working on major movies, but Bob Hoskins managed to land a significant windfall for doing absolutely nothing except staying at home.
Pay-or-play deals have become an increasing fixture in Hollywood, with performers guaranteed a salary regardless of whether or not the movie they’ve agreed to appear in even happens, but that wasn’t the case when Hoskins netted himself a hefty paycheque for sitting out a film that would go on to become a box office hit and an Academy Award winner.
Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables had been crawling slowly through development since the 1970s, and during that time, countless stars flirted with the project. Jack Nicholson was announced as Elliot Ness in 1985 before Kevin Costner signed on, which only happened because Mel Gibson decided starring in Lethal Weapon was the better use of his time.
Once the pieces eventually started falling into place, De Palma only had eyes for Robert De Niro as Al Capone. In the end his instincts were proven right when the living legend went full method and spent months immersing himself into the life of the infamous gangster for what was effectively a glorified cameo, but Hoskins remained on standby just in case.
Scheduling conflicts loomed in the background that could have scuppered De Niro’s involvement, so at least Hoskins always knew he was second choice. De Palma openly told the actor that he’d only be playing Capone if his number one candidate couldn’t commit to The Untouchables, but he was rewarded for his patience at the end of the day.
As Hoskins told Conan O’Brien, De Palma ensured he was looked after, with his wife Linda turning an everyday breakfast into a particularly lucrative one. “Linda and me are sitting out having breakfast one morning, and Linda’s opening the mail,” he explained. “She said, ‘Oh, what’s this?’ It was a check for $200,000.”
Hoskins only found out he wasn’t required when he read in the trades that De Niro would be boarding The Untouchables, but De Palma didn’t cast callously cast him aside. “It said, ‘Thanks for your time. Love, Brian,'” the one-time Mario recalled of the accompanying note. “I phoned him up and I said, ‘Brian, listen, if you’ve got any films you don’t want me to be in, I’m there for you any day!”
One of the best gangster flicks of the 1980s, The Untouchables would go on to earn over $100 million at the box office and win Sean Connery an Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, with De Niro on formidable form as Capone. Had the stars not aligned, then it would have been Hoskins, but he was well-compensated for his efforts – or lack thereof – either way.
