"Fifty Shades of Grey" ranked in over $550 million at the international box office, leading the film's stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson to ask for an enormous pay raise - whether they'll get it or not is still up for debate.
However, one person who doesn't believe that the star deserve extra money is the film's producer, Dana Brunetti. The 41-year-old opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about the film's stars allegedly demanding a higher salary.
"Look, when I was starting out and had to cut my teeth and build my résumé to get in, I had to basically work for free on a lot of things," Brunetti told. "I still take reductions in my fees for the opportunities to do certain things. We got slack on Captain Phillips about how much Barkhad [Abdi] and those guys hot paid. Look at Jonah Hill in Wolf of Wall Street. It was great for his career. So I'm not going to cry for anybody who wants to be in this business just because a thing they were involved in did very well and they didn't get paid [a lot].
"That's not the deal that you made. If it was, I'd have more than a couple Ferraris because all the money my films have made is f-ing insane. You've got to start somewhere."
Last month, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Dornan and Johnson wanted to bring their paycheck of $250,000 (plus some bonuses, but no backend compensation) from the first film to about seven-figures for the next two sequels.
"It was a very basic franchise starter deal," an insider said of the actor's contracts (via THR). "Look at Twilight and Hunger Games, and that's where it is heading."
The two stars were reportedly holding the movie's success against Universal in order to negotiate a deal. Universal Pictures has yet to announce the franchise's next official sequel.
But, as for whether Sam Taylor-Johnson will reprise her role as director, Brunetti told THR, "No idea. We literally have no idea what we're going to do. I have not even met with the studio or anybody yet about the second film."
