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Still, if you do too many of these, you run the risk of having a rather strange [[IMDb]] record and irrevocably ruining your reputation as a creative thespian: so much potential and talent wasted. Some artists, however, can turn this to their advantage; a common reason cited by many successful artists who engage in this trope is that a high-paying job that doesn't greatly interest them means that they have more money to put into funding and appearing in lower-budget but more creatively appealing ones.
 
To be clear, however, there is no shame at all for doing a movie for the money, and if the movie happens to be a great one, artistically or popularly, all the better. People in creative jobs need an income the same as anyone else, and in fact, many of the greatest popcorn flicks of all time are great primarily because the studio shelled out the money to get actors and directors who would rather be doing something else, but who were still prepared to give the audience a good performance. However, doing a [[So Bad It's Horrible (Darth Wiki)|So Bad It's Horrible]] movie ''is'' something to be ashamed of, and it'd be a lie to say the first doesn't often lead to the second. Still, these performances can be delicious [[Ham and Cheese]] in the otherwise bad movie. Similarly, whether the result is quality or not an artist who takes the job for the money but still makes the effort to put in a decent (or at least entertaining) performance will usually be afforded more respect from the audience than one who took the money but made it clear through their performance that they couldn't care less or thought it beneath them. And in many cases it can be subverted: Even if it is for the money, the level can be kept high and professional and they can turn out something great (like the example with Coppola and ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]''). It's just that most cases where somebody does something strictly for paycheck tends to be for a reason...
 
Similar to getting a healthy paycheck, some actors will just want to do something "[[So My Kids Can Watch|their kids can watch]]", the kind of roles most actors seek usually being dark and not appropriate for minors.
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A common theme -- especially among older actors and actresses -- stems from growing up during hard economic conditions, either from a poor economy as a whole or from family hardships. The fear that "The Next Job" may not come, as it often failed to do for their family, drives them to take roles they might not otherwise be interested in.
 
Compare and contrast [[Doing It for Thethe Art]] (when artistic value and/or achievement is the primary motivator), and [[Awesome, Dear Boy]] (when the actor takes the role for the coolness of it, regardless of how crappy the work is).
 
See also [[Paying Their Dues]], [[I Was Young and Needed Thethe Money]] (when this trope is given as the excuse for [[Old Shame]]), [[WTH? Casting Agency]], [[Took the Bad Film Seriously]], and [[Humans Are White]] (for non-white actors who have little choice but to take what they can get).
 
'''Not to be confused with [[Only in It For Thethe Money]], which is when this is the excuse a character uses ''in-story''. Also notice that if a great actor is in a crappy movie, it doesn't necessarily means that he's in it just for the money.'''
 
{{examples}}
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* Lance Bass and Richard Chamberlain had cameos in ''[[I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry]]''. The title ''alone'' indicated the quality of the film.
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared in ''[[Airplane!]]'' because the role paid for an expensive rug he wished to purchase. Subverted in that the movie is now considered a classic.
* [[Ben Affleck]] once hawked ''[[Paycheck]]'' on [[Conan O 'Brien]]. Conan asked him why he did the film, and Ben told him "[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|the answer lies in the title]]", fittingly.
** Affleck appeared on a British chatshow to publicise the movie, only to be told by the enthusiastic host that it was one of the best science fiction films he had ever seen - the host actually suggested that Paycheck was at least as good as Blade Runner, and asked Affleck if he agreed. You could see how bemused Affleck was as he admitted that he thought Blade Runner was the better movie.
** Co-star Paul Giamatti referred to the film as "the aptly-named ''[[Paycheck]]''" in an appearance on ''[[The Daily Show]]''.
* [[John Barrowman]] stated this as his only reason for appearing in the legendary ''[[Shark Attack 3: Megalodon]]''.
* [[Halle Berry]] received a record salary for appearing in ''[[Catwoman (Filmfilm)|Catwoman]]'', which flopped at the box office. She accepted the "Worst Actress" [[Razzie]] with her Oscar (for ''[[Monsters Ball]]'') in her other hand. This film has a strange history; before Berry was attached it was a generic superhero film. After getting her, it became a vanity film for Berry, and they shoehorned in the Catwoman angle. Perhaps [[Money, Dear Boy]] was at work when DC Comics allowed their trademarked name to be used in a film they had no input to.
** It really didn't help that the actual Catwoman character was off-limits because of the possibility she would appear in another ''Batman'' movie.
* [[Paul Bettany]]'s growing family must be the reason he made ''[[Legion]]'' and ''[[Priest]]''. He even pulled out of the lead role in ''[[The King's Speech]]'' (which won [[Colin Firth]] an Oscar) to do the latter.
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** He was also in ''King of the Lost World'', another mockbuster by the same company.
** He must either have hellish bills or be inordinately fond of [[Tron]], as he is the ''only'' cast member that has been in all the incarnations, including [[Kingdom Hearts]].
* An entry in [[Roger Ebert]]'s "Little Movie Glossary" describes the effect of [[Marlon Brando]]'s participation in a film as the "Brando Acceptability Yardstick" - as the whole idea of respected actors doing comic book movies for the money can be traced to him. See the ''[[Superman (Filmfilm)|Superman]]'' franchise, ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' and the 1996 remake of ''[[The Island of Dr. Moreau]]''. Incidentally, Brando received, as a salary for the entirety of his work on ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]'', approximately 1% of his ''Superman: The Movie'' salary, which was once calculated by The Guinness Book of Records as $8...PER SECOND!
* In an interview promoting the film ''28 Days'' (no, not [[Twenty Eight28 Days Later|that one]]) the interviewer asked [[Sandra Bullock]] why she chose to star in it. She promptly answered that she needed the money. The interviewer started to laugh, but stopped shortly when he noticed Ms.Bullock was serious.
* [[Steve Buscemi]] will not turn down a high-paying role. When asked about his appearance in ''[[Armageddon]]'', he replied, "I wanted a bigger house."
** On the other hand, a film ([[The Sopranos|or]] [[Boardwalk Empire|show]]) with Steve Buscemi [[Rule of Sean Connery|is automatically worth your time and effort.]]
* [[Michael Caine]], who has stated: "First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.". His most shameful role is probably Hoagie in ''[[Jaws the Revenge]]'' - his work on the film also prevented him from attending the ceremony where he would've been awarded his first Oscar. After his work on ''Jaws IV'', Caine finally started turning down offers like this. At least until his appearance in ''[[Bewitched (Filmfilm)|Bewitched]]''.
** Caine said of ''Jaws IV'': "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house it built, and it is terrific."
* In his autobiography, ''If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor'', [[Bruce Campbell]] explains this reasoning in response to fan criticism of his appearances in stinkers like ''[[Congo]]''. He reiterates that actors need to pay the bills like everyone else, and notes other side-benefits of being tied to a production. In the case of ''Congo'', he was flown to Costa Rica, and his scenes did not involve the rest of the main cast so he was only needed on set one day a week. The rest of the time he toured Costa Rica on the studio's dime, "which I would have done myself anyway!".
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* John Carradine may well be the patron saint of this trope. On the stage he played Hamlet. On the screen he played, well, damn near ''anything.'' He wasn't just in [[B-Movie|B-movies]], he appeared in Z-movies like ''[[Red Zone Cuba]]'' and ''Vampire Men of the Lost Planet.''
** And his son David Carradine definitely followed in his footsteps.
* [[Sean Connery]] agreed to do his last official [[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]] film ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (Film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]'' for a fee of £1.2 million, which he used to found the Scottish International Education Trust (an arts funding company for Scottish artists).
* Joan Crawford, for much of her life, was an in-demand actress who reigned at the box office. However, no one can deny that her film choices later in life were less motivated by the need for fame and more influenced by cold, hard cash (which was apparently caused by her star power fading and her being ousted from the board of Pepsi, formerly run by her deceased husband). This would explain why she went from dramatic leading roles to scenery-chewing in cheap horror films like ''Berserk!'' and ''Trog''<ref>(the latter was, in fact, her final film)</ref>, as well as appearances in several short-lived television series (although she did also appear in the most [[All-Star Cast|guest-star laden]] episode of ''[[The Man Fromfrom UNCLEU.N.C.L.E.]]''). As Neil Deagle of ''Bad Movie Night'' explained about ''Trog'', "It's really sad to see such a huge star (like her) be consigned to the Z-grade abyss of films like this. But, hey, a girl's gotta eat."
* John Cusack has gone on record as stating that he'll take just about any well-paying gig he's offered, because it lets him finance the small indie projects that are his true artistic love.
* When asked why he did ''[[Stargate (Filmfilm)|Stargate]]'', Jaye Davidson said, "I needed the money.".
** Originally, he had no intention of acting again after ''[[The Crying Game]]''. So when he was offered a role in ''Stargate'', he insisted on a $1 million salary, figuring there'd be no way they'd be willing to pay him that much. But his offer was accepted, and he decided that it'd be nice to have some financial security, so he took the role.
** Ditto for [http://www.gateworld.net/movies/01.shtml James Spader], who found the script "awful". ''"Acting, for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-labourist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some [[Precision F-Strike|fucking]] money."''
* Gerard Depardieu stars in an average of 3.6 movies a year, most of them probably to pay his bills. There's a rhyming lament of the American Foreign-Film viewer that goes: "I fear I shall never view, a French film without Depardieu." Admittedly, it rhymes only if you pronounce him incorrectly.
* [[Michael Douglas]]'s [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/michael_douglas/ Rottentomatoes] page is very telling. He tends to alternate several "rotten" Hollywood films (''[[You, Me and Dupree]]'', for example, or ''[[The Sentinel]]'') with highly rated indie films (''Solitary Man'', ''Wonder Boys''). While there are obviously exceptions on both sides, it can be assumed he takes the Hollywood parts to pay for the independent ones.
* John Gielgud. Oscar winner. Emmy winner. Grammy winner. Tony winner. Acclaimed actor and director. KNIGHT. Connoisseur of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZv8aIr55k fine champagne].
** He originally and consistently refused starring in ''[[Arthur (Filmfilm)|Arthur]]'', but the producers kept upping his fee until he really couldn't turn it down.
* Matthew Goode said that ''[[Leap Year]]'' was "turgid" and the only reasons he did it were for money and so he could see his family more often.
* Cuba Gooding Jr.: Academy Award-winning actor and well-paid star of ''Snow Dogs'', ''Boat Trip'', ''[[Norbit]]'' and ''Daddy Day Camp''.
* [[Tim Roth]] in ''Virgin Territory''. Haven't heard of it? Roth breathes a sigh of relief.
* Can there be any other reason for Oscar and Emmy Award winning Louis Gossett Jr. appearing the [[Dolph Lundgren]] ''[[Punisher]]'' movie and a slew of ''[[Iron Eagle (Film)|Iron Eagle]]'' sequels?
** Gossett himself pointed out that a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar is something of a curse; smaller projects think they can't afford you, and larger projects don't think you can open a film on your own.
* Sir Alec Guinness as [[The Obi-Wan|Obi-Wan Kenobi]] in ''[[Star Wars]]''. His contract for 2% of the film's gross over a base salary was one of the most lucrative film deals ever made, and one of the most notable examples of this trope.
* This is why ''[[Deadwood]]'' star John Hawkes played what was essentially a bit part in season six of ''[[Lost]]''-his role was literally just repeating what another actor said and for that he got paid a lot and filmed in Hawaii.
* As an actor, Lance Henriksen has appeared in well over 100 films. Many of these have been great (''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Aliens]]'', ''[[The Terminator]]'', ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'', ''[[Near Dark]]''). Many more, however, have been pretty dire (''Piranha II: The Spawning'', ''Vampires: Out For Blood'' and ''[[Hellraiser Hellworld]]'' to name but a few). He even worked in a Brazilian [[It Makes Sense in Context|soap opera about mutants.]] Henriksen is a king of direct-to-DVD, and seems to specialize in mostly low budget SF, horror, fantasy or action flicks - films in which he is very often the only notable actor on board. Henriksen is also often very guilty of phoning-it-in, and frequently plays the same deadpan, imposing, monotone father-figure character he's been portraying for the last thirty-or-so years. He's appeared in multiple cheap cash-ins on pre-existing popular franchises (see [[The Mockbuster|The Da Vinci Treasure and Pirates Of Treasure Island]], both released in 2006) has provided voice duties for many animated series and video games, appeared in adverts and also found time along the way to star in [[Chris Carter]]'s grim (but mostly great) pseudo-''[[X-Files]]'' spinoff series ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' for three years.
** Henriksen has admitted to taking some less-than-stellar roles for the money because he owed alimony to his ex-wife.
** That said, he is undeniably [[Rule of Sean Connery|one of those actors]] and when he is good, such as in Millennium, he is ''very'' good.
* [[Anthony Hopkins]] invoked this trope hard in an interview on [[Conan O 'Brien]]. Conan said to Anthony that "some actors choose movies based on who they'll be working with, or who's catering the set. What makes you choose a movie?" Hopkins' response was "Well, money."
** After the major success of ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'' Hopkins' very next movie was (drum roll) ''[[Freejack]]''!
* When Dennis Hopper was asked by his younger son on why he appeared in awful productions such as ''[[Super Mario Bros. (Filmfilm)|Super Mario Bros]].'', he replied it was to buy him shoes. His son replied he [http://kotaku.com/5079261/why-the-hell-dennis-hopper-did-that-mario-movie didn't need them that much].
** Bob Hoskins also says this is the only movie he did for the money. And yes, he hates the film too.
** Hopper probably starred in the box-office flop ''Meet The Deedles'' for the same reason.
** Though surprisingly averted with ''[[Waterworld]]'', which he admitted to liking. He believed the reason that it bombed in the US was because the filmmakers announced that it was overbudgeted, shooting themselves in the foot.
* [[Jeremy Irons]]' appearances in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Filmfilm)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' and ''[[Eragon (Filmfilm)|Eragon]]'' are motivated either by this or a desire to be [[Fascinating Eyebrow|out-acted by his eyebrows.]] It's a toss-up. According to Wikiquote, when asked why he took his Dungeons and Dragons role, Irons replied: "Are you kidding? I'd just bought a castle, I had to pay for it somehow!"
* [[James Earl Jones]] has always been very upfront about doing anything that comes with a salary attached. Lampshaded by his appearance in ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'': "To be completely honest, I didn't know Charlie Harper. But any man who, with his dying breath, would set aside $25,000 and a first-class air ticket so I could deliver his eulogy is aces in my book!"
* [[Raul Julia]] taking the role of M. Bison in the ''[[Street Fighter (Filmfilm)|Street Fighter]]'' movie was motivated by knowledge of his imminent death from stomach cancer, and a wish to [[So My Kids Can Watch|leave his children well off]] - in fact, he let his sons choose which film he'd perform in, and they chose ''[[Street Fighter (Filmfilm)|Street Fighter]]'' because they were fans of the game. His [[Ham and Cheese|amazing]] [[Magnificent Bastard]] performance in the role is one of many elements that made the film [[So Bad It's Good|hilariously awful]] instead of just simply bad. Julia's accepting of roles as Gomez in the 1991 and 1993 ''[[The Addams Family (TV)|Addams Family]]'' movies (particularly the latter) are also attributed to this circumstance.
** Similarly, he was in the cheesy ''[[Overdrawn Atat the Memory Bank]]'' entirely due to his support of public television. He was also the only bright spot in the entire movie, and when ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' riffed on it shortly after his death, they went out of their way to point out that they respected Julia and were mocking the movie itself, not his performance.
* Ben Kingsley has been in many bad films: ''[[Blood Rayne (Filmfilm)|Blood Rayne]]'', ''[[Species]]'', ''[[Thunderbirds]]'', ''[[The Love Guru]]'' and ''[[A Sound of Thunder]]''. His excuse? His children have gotten used to eating. And sometimes actors are susceptible to the [[Rule of Cool]]: Kingsley says he took ''[[Blood Rayne (Filmfilm)|Blood Rayne]]'' because he had never had the chance to play a vampire.
* [[Klaus Kinski]] says it himself in one documentary. ''"Every time when I was out of money, I would just make any movie, I really didn't care. And suddenly the newspaper write I am the best murderer, the best this one, the best that one. And it isn't even too megalomanic to say 'Sure, you idiots. I can do all that. Without even trying.'"''
* [[John Larroquette]] in [[Fifty Cent|50 Cent]]'s ''[[Film/Gun|Gun]]'' as the rich gun runner Sam, not to mention his appearance in ''[[Southland Tales]]'' as Vaughn Smallhouse.
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* [[Eugene Levy]] is not as top-tiered an actor as many of those on this list... still, you'd think a man with two Emmys and a Grammy could do better than ''New York Minute'', ''[[Cheaper By the Dozen]] 2'', ''Bringing Down the House'', ''The Man'', and the endless appearances in Straight-To-DVD ''[[American Pie]]'' sequels. Several of Levy's ''SCTV'' co-stars could qualify in this regard, particularly Martin Short.
* While [[Peter Lorre]]'s career probably never reached its full potential to begin with (due to typecasting, studio practices, and a distinctive appearance), it definitely reached a low point after the failure of his only directorial effort ''Der Verlorene'' in the early 1950s. After that he took whatever roles he could get because he desperately needed the money after losing most of his early earnings through bad investments and a corrupt accountant, and he had to provide for himself, his family, and cover the costs of various attempts to cure his morphine addiction. Lorre warned friends to never leave money management up to somebody else, and often said that he would have retired from acting if he hadn't needed the money so badly.
* [[Michael Madsen]] [http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/1020-michael-madsen said] he's only been in six good movies - ''[[Kill Bill]]'', ''[[Species]]'', ''[[Free Willy]]'', ''[[Thelma and Louise]]'', ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'' and ''[[Donnie Brasco (Film)|Donnie Brasco]]''. He explains due to both "I'm just hard to please" and "I've made some crap but you've got to pay the bills".
* John Mahoney has said this of his role on ''[[Frasier]]''.
* [[Steve Martin]] has admitted that he only does films like ''[[Cheaper By the Dozen]]'' and ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' so he can finance his writing and art collection, and it's more fun to keep starring in comedies than to try breaking out as a dramatic actor.
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* [[Eddie Murphy]] starred in the very-forgettable film ''Best Defense''. When he hosted ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' soon after, he slammed it as "[[Old Shame|the worst film in the history of everything]]" and justified his role by saying "If you were paid do do ''Best Defense'' as much as they paid me to do ''Best Defense'', you'd do ''Best Defense'' too!". In one interview, he admitted that ''[[The Adventures of Pluto Nash]]'' wasn't very good, but went on to say that it was hard to really regret it when "your pocket goes out to here", while holding his palm several inches away from his pocket.
** Let's not forget that an interviewer asked Murphy whether he'd have preferred to have the [[Academy Award]] for ''[[Dreamgirls]]'' or his paycheck from ''[[Norbit]]''. He replied that while an Oscar statuette would look nice in his living room, it wouldn't pay the bills.
* [[Jack Nicholson]]'s $60 million deal for the 1989 ''[[Batman (Filmfilm)|Batman]]'' movie included a $6 million base salary, top billing and both a percentage of the gross and merchandising. It remains the single-largest film salary record. Around the time the [[Joel Schumacher]] movies were hitting theatres and there were projects for a follow-up if ''[[Batman and Robin (Filmfilm)|Batman and Robin]]'' didn't flop so hard, Nicholson said he would consider reprising the role of [[The Joker]] for $150 million. Which makes sense. After seeing Schumacher's Batman movies, wouldn't ''you'' ask an exorbitant wage to shame yourself on his next movie? Apparently, when Danny DeVito was in negotiations to appear as the Penguin in ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]'', he called Nicholson to ask his advice on the character and the contract. Jack's response? "Try to get my deal".
** Then again Jack Nicholson did go on record for saying he enjoyed playing the Joker and was a big supporter of then rookie Director [[Tim Burton]] during filming. So while the money got him to do it, he didn't hate or feel indifferent toward role like most others on the list.
** Speaking of Jack Nicholson: While making ''The St. Valentine's Day Massacre'', [[Roger Corman]] offered him a secondary but significant role. Looking at the shooting schedule, however, Jack noticed a small bit part- two scenes and one line of dialog- which due to a [[Good Bad Bug]] in the Screen Actors Guild regulations would get him paid for five weeks of work. He took the small role and the big paycheck instead.
* [[Edward Norton]] has followed the Ewan MacGregor route and taken roles in big-budget flicks to help bankroll projects like Spike Lee's ''[[Twenty Fifth25th Hour (Film)|Twenty Fifth Hour]]''. He also made no secret that the only reason he did ''[[The Italian Job (2003 film)|The Italian Job]]'' was because of a contractual requirement.
* [[Gary Oldman]] is known for driving a particularly hard bargain. He won't even ''read'' most scripts without a hefty offer on the table, and he's known for having almost bowed out of the ''[[Harry Potter (Filmfilm)|Harry Potter]]'' franchise over salary disputes.
** Sadly, the makers of ''[[Quest for Camelot]]'', and ''[[Lost in Space]]'' must have been aware of this bargain prior to hiring him. He also decided against credit when he wasn't allowed top billing alongside [[Anthony Hopkins]] in ''[[Hannibal]]''.
* [[Laurence Olivier]] was determined to leave a comfortable inheritance to his family, and was more than willing to take unusual roles if they paid well, especially in his later career. The two most striking examples are his portrayals of Zeus in ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'' and Douglas MacArthur in Sun Myung Moon's (yes, the Unification Church cult leader) terrible production of ''Inchon'', for which it said he insisted his salary be paid weekly in a [[Briefcase Full of Money]] delivered by helicopter. He also appeared as a hologram in a terrible [[Rock Opera]] called ''Time''. Olivier's posthumous performance in ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' may be the logical extension of this trope.
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{{quote| There was a sort of horror picture that I did called The Mutations. I think I did that solely for the money. I have six daughters, and they can be quite expensive, so one has to keep working and be able to pay the bills.}}
* [[Oliver Reed]] ended up doing a lot of B movies towards the end of his life, including an awful adaptation of ''The Fall of the House of Usher'', as his drinking habits and wild lifestyle meant many mainstream directors would not give him a role.
* [[Jean Reno]]. Granted, not all of his latest movies are bad, but the times of ''[[The Professional|Leon]]'' and ''[[Ronin (Filmfilm)|Ronin]]'' seem very far.
* Burt Reynolds was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1996 after being $10 million in debt, so Reynolds vowed to cut back on expenses and to pay back every single dime, and he's appeared in over 40 films since, and it's easy that he starred in most of them (''Dungeon Siege'', ''Without A Paddle'', ''[[The Longest Yard]]'' remake, ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' film adaptation) for the money.
* Richard "[[Shaft]]" Roundtree in ''[[Steel]]''.
* For years, [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] refused to do a third ''[[Terminator]]'' movie if [[James Cameron]] wasn't directing. Figuring that the character was as much Arnold's as it was his, James just told him to go for it and ask for a lot of money. The $30 million he received are still an upfront record for a single movie (though [[Tom Hanks]] is rumored to have received along the lines of $29-59 million for ''[[Angels and Demons]]'').
** Arnold has admitted he loves to spend Hollywood's money. Almost all of his salaries since the first Terminator movie rose from $11 million to $25 million.
* [[Liev Schreiber]] appears in about two movies a year so he can afford to do classical theater in NYC, like ''Hamlet'' or ''A View from the Bridge.'' His decision to appear in the [[X -Men (Filmfilm)|Wolverine]] film probably had a lot to do with the birth of his two sons.
* [[Peter Sellers]] did several ill-fated films and TWA ads in the early 1970s largely because he was nearly broke after a string of late '60s flops and unwise money management. It was also a big reason he agreed to revive ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' films with ''Return of...'' in 1975, which turned things around. He did two additional sequels after that to rebuild his fortunes -- but also to achieve the needed clout to get ''Being There'' made, crossing this over with [[Doing It for Thethe Art]].
* [[Chloe Sevigny]] explains her motivation for playing a [[Butch Lesbian]] in the [[TV Movie]] ''If These Walls Could Talk 2'': "... yeah, I did that job. For money. I was paying my mom's mortgage. I've still never seen that movie. People say it's really good. We all gotta make a living."
* Slight variation: Michael Shanks of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' fame claimed at a fan convention that he agreed to star in the Sci-Fi Original Movie ''Mega Snake'' (without even reading the script!) solely to obtain a new US work visa.
* [[William Shatner]] earned some money off of the Priceline adverts by being paid in stock when Priceline was still young (though not the hundreds of millions sometimes reported).
** Also notoriously true during those long, lean years in [[The Seventies]] after he had been [[I Am Not Spock|profoundly typecast]] by ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' but before his career resuscitation in [[The Eighties]]. Obviously, this affected all of his castmates as well. Only [[Leonard Nimoy]] seemed to land on his feet, first getting a job across the Paramount lot at ''[[Mission Impossible]]'' and then narrating the "In Search Of..." series.
** Even ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' itself was an example of this for Shatner. Known at the time for his guest appearances in various other shows (most famously ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''), he ''turned down'' the role of Dr. Kildare, only to regret it a couple of years down the line when offers started drying up. Needing the financial stability of a regular job, he took the role of Captain James T. Kirk.
* [[Michael Sheen]] has made a servicable career of juicy dramatic roles, including playing Tony Blair several times on the small screen and the big screen, plus solid hits like The Damned United, [[Frost /Nixon]] and [[Midnight in Paris]]. On the other hand, he's [[Chewing the Scenery]] in glorified bit parts from films such as [[Alice in Wonderland (Filmfilm)|Alice in Wonderland]], ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]''. ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' and ''[[Underworld (Filmfilm)|Underworld]]''. There's no reason why he would be doing this unless he wanted a paycheck so that the filmmakers could capitalize on his star power.
* Stellan Skarsgård is blunt about his motives for starring in films. He's called several of his larger-budget Hollywood movies "utter crap" that pay well and allow him to do great films with lower budgets - during EPK interviews. In an even more pronounced example of this trope, Skarsgård was a softcore porn actor in his youth.
* [[Patrick Stewart]] as the hammy King Ooblar in ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]: Boy Genius'', The Great Prince of the Forest in ''[[Bambi (Disney)|Bambi]] 2'', an over-the-top drug lord confined to a chair in ''Gunmen'' and 1996's ''Masterminds''. Stewart's knowingly hammy [[Chewing the Scenery|scene-chewing]] is all part of the fun - he's clearly having a blast with it. He has said in interviews he loves "popcorn movies" like ''[[X-Men (Filmfilm)|X-Men]]'' and ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' as much as he loves stage and serious drama. To be fair, most of what Stewart does is because he just loves acting in general and has the habit of doing whatever he likes at the time, being serious drama to cornball comedy and everything in between. It's been said that he never takes on a role unless he ''wants'' to. Even before he was in ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'', Stewart took a role in ''Lifeforce'' (the naked space vampire movie) to pay for the replacement of a broken bay window at his house.
** By the way, Stewart once recollected about accepting an award in Britain. While with other British stage actors, he said he was asked the same thing repeatedly about his Hollywood experiences - "How much do you get paid?"
* Ryan Stiles admitted in an interview that, despite having a fear of flying, he was willing to fly to the UK to do [[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]] because at the time he desperately needed the money.
* The Japanese actor Tetsuro Tamba was legendary for never turning down a paying role, no matter what it was in (he also never read the entire script for a movie, or memorized a script). He also founded a religion. Cool guy.
* [[Charlize Theron]] admitted in an interview that she starred in ''[[Hancock]]'' for the money.
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* [[Christopher Walken]] is honest about the fact that he never turns down a well-paying gig. This has led to his appearances in ''Joe Dirt'', ''The Country Bears'', ''Kangaroo Jack'', ''[[Gigli]]'', ''Envy'', ''Click'' and the 2004 remake of ''[[The Stepford Wives]]'', just to name a few. He is also [[One-Scene Wonder|the best thing in each of these films]].
** He also subverts this trope. He's said repeatedly in interviews that he takes any role offered to him as long as he has the time because he regards every film he works on as a learning experience. One can only guess what he learned from ''The Country Bears''.
* [[David Warner]]. While ''[[Tron]]'' is acceptable, let's consider ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Filmfilm)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] II: Secret of the Ooze'', ''[[Star Trek V: theThe Final Frontier (Film)|Star Trek V the Final Frontier]]'', ''Privateer II: The Darkening'' and of course, ''[[Quest of the Delta Knights]]''.
{{quote| '''Crow T. Robot''' (As David Warner): In it for the money, folks.}}
** Warner may be the new patron saint of this trope, as he was paid for ''two'' roles in ''Delta Knights''.
* [[Sigourney Weaver]]'s involvement in ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Alien]] <sup>3:</sup>'' and ''Alien: Resurrection'' was motivated largely by this. After ''Aliens'', Weaver had intended it to be the last role she would play as the character...until 20th Century Fox lured her back to the third film (after rejecting several scripts by other writers that didn't include her) with a much bigger payday and a producer's credit. Years later, during an interview, she responded to the question, "Why did you agree to do ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Alien]] Resurrection''?" by saying, "Because they drove a dumptruck full of money to my house."
* [[Orson Welles]] willingly accepted an endless chain of well-paying bit parts in many films. He also hawked [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V14PfDDwxlE frozen peas] and Paul Masson [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj0t2ozPWY wine]. His work on these commercials has been the subject of parody, most notably on ''[[The Critic]]'' and ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]''.
** One of Welles' last roles was voicing the ''[[Transformers]]'' villain Unicron. While both the character and the performance are unforgettable, Welles himself viewed the production with contempt and could only recall it was a movie about "toys killing each other."
** He did the narration on the remastered version of ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe'' by the Alan Parsons Project. It was straight wagework: the whole thing was arranged through agents, Welles was sent a script, and Parsons was sent a tape.
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* In 1996, writer Mark Waid and artist Ron Garney were unceremoniously removed from a critically acclaimed run on [[Captain America]] and replaced by Chuck Dixon and [[Rob Liefeld]]. One year later, Waid & Garney were reinstated. At that year's Comic-Con, when asked why he would come back after what happened, Waid simply [[wikipedia:Types of gestures#Money sign|rubbed his fingers together]]
* Comics great Fabian Nicieza once talked about his role in writing the terrible comic book ''NFL Superpro'': "I was handed the concept and character, including his basic origin. I don't know if that was all the NFL's creative work or a combination of Marvel editorial and the NFL. I didn't ask. I just wanted Jets tickets."
** [[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Linkara]] has mentioned a few times that he likes Nicieza as a writer, but he keeps turning up in the bad comics he reviews, like ''X-Force''.
* [[Brian Bendis]], [[Mark Millar]], [[Matt Fraction]] and [[Warren Ellis]] are all writing [[Marvel Comics]] titles to raise money for publishing their personal projects. The first three also use Marvel's publishing line, while Ellis publishes his personal titles through smaller companies, like [[Avatar Press]].
* [[Wilhelm Busch]] (from 19th century Germany) rather wanted to become a "real" artist, like a poet or a painter, but found that people preferred his simpler, funny picture stories.
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** Basinger's situation was the main reason [[Whoopi Goldberg]] settled for a massive paycheck on ''[[Theodore Rex]]''. She agreed to do it, saw the script, tried walking out, and decided "rich & ashamed" beat "broke & principled".
** Mike Myers backed out of a film based upon Dieter, the ''[[SNL]]'' character, and was sued by Universal Pictures for $3.8 million. His decision to back out of the $20 million contract was an inversion of this trope; he was unhappy with the script (despite having written it himself) and didn't feel the film would be of a standard acceptable for moviegoers. If only he'd had similar scruples when he got the idea for ''[[The Love Guru]]''...
* The spoof [[They Just Didn't Care|adaptation]]... of ''[[Casino Royale 1967]]''. Featuring [[David Niven]], [[Peter Sellers]], Ursula Andress, [[Woody Allen]], Peter O'Toole, [[Orson Welles]], Deborah Kerr, [[John Huston]]...and [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made Onon Drugs?|nothing resembling coherence at any point]]. Part of the incoherence may be because Sellers wasn't in it for the money but proved extremely difficult to work with and was subsequently fired, leaving the producers with half a film which they roped Niven into completing.
* The fantasy flop ''[[Eragon (Filmfilm)|Eragon]]'' boasted the likes of [[Jeremy Irons]], [[Robert Carlyle]], [[John Malkovich]], and Djimon Hounsou. They couldn't save it, and they didn't try, either.
* This is probably why [[Christopher Eccleston]] was in ''[[G.I. Joe: theThe Rise of Cobra]]''. He also just decided to [[Ham and Cheese|have fun with it]].
* [[Francis Ford Coppola]] apparently only directed ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather, Part II]]'' in order to do ''[[The Conversation]]'' and get funding for one of his other projects, ''[[Apocalypse Now]]''. Then, after making an expensive flop in ''One for the Heart'', his entire career for nearly two decades was simply doing movies for the money. After getting it paid off, a decade-long break followed, and now he uses the money from his wine to [[Doing It for Thethe Art|make the movies he wants]].
* The [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392197/ cast listing] for ''[[Marmaduke]]'' movie has this trope in spades.
* Averted by respected actor Frank Langella, who has denied that his part in ''[[Masters of the Universe (Filmfilm)|Masters of the Universe]]'' was a purely mercenary decision. He states that he quite [[Awesome, Dear Boy|enjoyed playing]] [[Ham and Cheese|a cape-swirling villain.]]
* Christopher Plummer in the Italian B-movie [[Star Wars]] knock-off ''[[Starcrash]]''.
* The ''[[Superman (Filmfilm)|Superman]]'' franchise has been the focus of a number of publicized instances involving the stars:
** [[Marlon Brando]] was ultimately paid $14 million for 10 minutes as Jor-El.
** Christopher Reeve only signed to star in ''The Quest For Peace'' if he could get a pet project made by Cannon Films (''Street Smart'', in case you're wondering).
** [[Gene Hackman]], as [[Lex Luthor]], also apparently swung a nice deal. Hackman admitted in interviews that his appearance in ''The Quest for Peace'' was entirely financially motivated. Admittedly, it couldn't be much else.
* ''[[Transformers the Movie|Transformers: The Movie]]'': Featuring the voice talents of [[Orson Welles]], [[Leonard Nimoy]] and Eric Idle, among others, in what can best be described as an [[Merchandise-Driven|80-minute toy commercial]]. They were ''all'' in it for the money. Welles told his biographer about the film, "I play a big toy who does horrible things to a bunch of smaller toys." Idle admitted in his book, ''The Greedy Bastard Diary'', that he had hated every minute of production. "Why did I do it, again? Oh, right, they offered me oodles of cash." He also said that he never even watched the movie, and makes a habit out of it with such roles. It is rumored that Leonard Nimoy was so embarrassed about it that he refused to address it for years afterwards, whether in interviews or at science-fiction conventions. Only [[Michael Bay]]'s interest in casting him as The Fallen in ''[[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]]: Revenge of the Fallen'' prompted him to talk about his role, and then only briefly (and he also said that Bay could call him up if he wanted to, but Bay ultimately went with Tony Todd because of his guest appearance in ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold]]''). Nimoy was however later cast as Sentinel Prime in ''Dark of the Moon''.
** This negativity wasn't true of all the celebrities in the movie, however; Robert Stack and [[Judd Nelson]] were in it to get paid and embraced their roles; Robert Stack (according to some production staff) liked the movie and Judd Nelson reprised his role for ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' 20 years later.
** On the ''[[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]]'' film, [[Hugo Weaving]] has casually admitted to phoning in his performance as Megatron.
* Both [[Robert Pattinson]] and [[Kristen Stewart]] have said that they only did the ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' movie for the money, and both of them have inserted [[Take That|Take Thats]] against the book and its fans in interviews. Also, Pattinson said that he wanted to do ''Twilight'' in order to have the opportunity to work with Stewart, who, prior to ''Twilight'', was known as a serious actress who did mostly independent films ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|and]] ''[[Zathura]]''). Also, it's ''Kristen Stewart''. He was reportedly hitting on her throughout filming. [[Jamie Campbell Bower]], who is playing Caius, also seems to have only signed on for the money as all he knew about ''Twilight'' prior to then was that the first movie had done well. And Pattinson has gone on record as saying he thinks [[Stephenie Meyer]] is literally insane. Both lead actors have also been publicly caught in scandals, in what many anti-fans jokingly claim are attempts to get released from their contract... a hypothesis that was then backed up by Stewart in an interview.
** David Slade, who publicly blasted the Twilight franchise prior to signing on to do Eclipse, had to apologize for his comments later on. Given the budget for ''[[Hard Candy]]'', he can be forgiven for invoking this trope.
* Any film made by [[Uwe Boll]]. He might not be much of a creative talent, but he reportedly pays well:
** ''[[Alone in Thethe Dark (Film2005 film)|Alone in The Dark]]'': [[Christian Slater]], Stephen Dorff, Tara Reid.
** ''In the Name of the King: A [[Dungeon Siege]] Tale'': Starring [[Jason Statham]], [[Leelee Sobieski]], Claire Forlani, Ray Liotta, John Rhys-Davies, [[Ron Perlman]] and Burt Reynolds (see above).
** His ''[[Far Cry]]'' movie managed to have Til Schweiger, one of Germany's highest rated actors. Bizarrely, he did tell German gaming magazine GameStar in an interview that he was in it because Uwe Boll is apparently a very pleasant guy to work with as a director.
** ''[[Blood Rayne]]'', featuring [[Michael Madsen]], [[Michelle Rodriguez]] and [[Ben Kingsley]]<ref>although he ''did''also jump at the chance to play a vampire</ref>.
** According to some theories, the only reason Boll's films get funded at all is people going for a [[Springtime for Hitler]] situation. More on the trope page.
* This has to explain ''Warrior of the Lost World'', which in addition to featuring [[Donald Pleasence]], also provided an income for [[The Paper Chase|Robert Ginty]], Persis Khambatta (pretty much only known for her role in ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek the Motion Picture]]''), and Fred Williamson.
* [[Wes Craven]] had this to say about his involvement in ''[[The Hills Have Eyes]] 2'' (The 80s one)
{{quote| I’m sorry about The Hills Have Eyes, Part II. The reason I did that film was that I was dead broke and needed to do any film. I would have done ''Godzilla Goes to Paris.''}}
* [[Dustin Hoffman]], and [[Robin Williams]] did not take salaries for ''[[Hook (Film)|Hook]]'', instead opting (with [[Steven Spielberg]]) to split 40% of the gross revenues. Since that movie, Spielberg likes to convince his stars to get this instead of their usual paychecks (considering the budget is usually already huge, it helps a lot). Examples include [[Tom Hanks]] for ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' and [[Tom Cruise]] for ''[[Minority Report]]''.
* The late director Gary Winick did a number of cookie-cutter romantic comedies (''13 Going On 30'', ''Bride Wars'', ''Letters To Juliet'') and family films (the remake of ''[[CharlottesCharlotte's Web]]'') so that he could finance smaller independent projects that made use of digital cameras. It ended up working rather well as he produced a number of critically acclaimed films through his company Indigent.
* When asked in an interview what he hoped to achieve with his early movies, [[John Ford]] simply replied "a big check". He repeatedly maintained over the years that moviemaking was just a way for him to make a living, which he stuck with because it paid well and he found it easy.
 
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* L. Frank Baum, creator of the [[Wizard of Oz]] series repeatedly tried to end the franchise, which bored him, only to repeatedly come crawling back once his other non-Oz books failed to sell.
* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] only started writing in his thirties during a period of low employment. He had been reading pulp magazines and thought that he could write at least as well as this garbage and get paid for it, despite never having written anything before. After his stories became successful he made all the money he could, in particular marketing Tarzan, his most successful character, in every way possible. This was against advice that doing so would overexpose the character. Burroughs was right though, the public couldn't get enough of Tarzan.
* [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]] openly acknowledged that she wrote ''The Mystery of the Blue Train'' and ''The Big Four'' because she needed money. It shows.
* Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle (Creator)|Arthur Conan Doyle]] had initially refused to revive [[Sherlock Holmes]] (the man did, after all, kill Holmes off purely out of spite for the character). The huge sums of money editors were offering him for new Holmes stories, and his dwindling bank account, no doubt played a part in his decision to finally take the plunge. There is an anecdote sometimes cited that says that, tired of being asked to revive Holmes, he finally asked for a ridiculously huge sum of money that he knew the publishers wouldn't be able to pay, and was appropriately shocked when they immediately said yes.
* As noted before, this trope doesn't necessarily result in bad fiction - think of the doorstopping evergreens by Dostoievsky and Alexandre Dumas. Both were paid per line. In case of Dostoievsky his urgent need to repay his gambling debts caused him to write "Crime and Punishment" at a crazy speed. This is thought to be one of the reasons for the novel's unique flow of thoughts making it both an inspiration to psychoanalysis and Joyce's stream of conciousness.
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s writing career started as a way to pay off debts incurred in an unsuccessful run for office, in 1937. The male protagonist of ''[[The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Literature)|The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' took this trope as his own.
{{quote| '''Richard Ames''': The most beautiful prose in the English language is "Pay to the order of..."}}
* [[Samuel Johnson]] wrote ''Rasselas'' in only seven days to pay for his mother's funeral.
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* [[Terry Pratchett]], in an interview with Stephen Briggs in the third edition of ''[[Discworld|The Discworld Companion]]'', on not having won many literary awards and the hint that the Booker prize may be opened up to more popular works: "A 'popular' book means the author has already got what a true writer craves: a lot of readers and a big cheque". He once said of being beaten out for a Hugo award "On the other hand, going home and falling backwards into a big pile of money always helps." Of course, Sir Terry's (Kt, OBE, Ph.D. (x8, all honorary)) lack of literary awards was likely due to the [[Sci Fi Ghetto]] more than any lack of talent on his part.
** When asked if he was jealous of the money that Douglas Adams made, he replied "Not at all, especially since it's been tactfully pointed out that I had to change banks after filling the last one up"
* Anthony Burgess basically belched out ''[[A Clockwork Orange (Literaturenovel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' in a matter of weeks to pay off some debts. He regretted its glorification of violence and was annoyed by the way it overshadowed the rest of his work, causing quite a bit of [[Creator Backlash]].
* The ultimate example may be [[William Shakespeare]]. The plays were probably written for the quick profit and the poetry to increase the author's social standing in the Elizabethan court. Not surprisingly, ''[[Hamlet]]'' seems to be [[Doing It for Thethe Art|the major exception.]]
* Arguably the entire point of the Spackman Initiative in [[The Pale King]].
* After his wife gave birth to their fifth child, [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]] needed some cash to cover the doctor's bills. Six weeks later he had written and sold [[A Christmas Carol]]. Something of an aversion in that, even though it was almost immediately a critical hit and is regarded as a classic today, it ultimately didn't make Dickens as much money as he hoped it would.
** [[Great Expectations]] was only written because Dickens' magazine 'All The Year Round' was doing poorly and the only thing that would revive it was a serialised Dickens novel.
* Robert Graves claimed he wrote ''[[I, Claudius]]'' and ''Claudius The God'' for this reason.
** This was his stated motive for writing all of his novels; he considered himself primarily a poet but was plagued with money problems throughout his life.
* The "penny dreadful" pulp authors of the 1930s, when magazines paid $0.01 a word.
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* Joe Rogan once referred to ''[[Fear Factor]]'', a show which he hosted, as "Joe Gets Paid".
{{quote| ''"This is me, every day at work: '...REALLY. And they're going to do this on camera? What the fuck is wrong with these people? ...No, dude, I got a mortgage; mic me up."''}}
* In one game of "Scenes from a Hat" on [[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]], where the scene in question was "rejected names for Whose Line", Wayne suggested "Drew Carey's House Payment".
* Then-well-known stage actors James Daly nor Louise Sorel, who guest-starred together in the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series (TV)|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode "Requiem for Methuselah" as Flint and Reyna, respectively, both thought the series was childish and cartoony and later both admitted the only reason they did the episode was the paycheck.
{{quote| '''Louise Sorel:''' (about the episode) "They put me in this funny costume – I stood still and they just wrapped fabric around me – and I had an Annette Funicello bouffant and Dusty Springfield eye make-up. James Daly and I thought of ourselves as these two very serious theater actors. He kept looking at me and asking, "Why on Earth are we doing this?" I kept telling him, "Christmas money."}}
* Carroll O'Connor pulled off a massive version of this during the sixth season of ''[[All in The Family]]''. During the hiatus between seasons, O'Connor lobbied for [[CBS]] to greatly increase his salary, as well as give him more creative control. Studio executives balked at his demands, and production of the season started without him (with an explanation given that he was out of town). CBS head Fred Silverman successfully convinced O'Connor to come back at a much higher salary. By the time ''[[Archie BunkersBunker's Place]]'' began, O'Connor was the highest-paid cast member (and, by the end of the first season, the ''only'' original cast member) and an executive producer, and rode the salary bump through four more seasons of diminishing ratings.
* It seems that a sitcom is doomed as soon as its star/s become/s the "highest paid on television." (Notably, Seinfeld, Frasier, Friends).
 
 
== Music ==
* Even [[The Beatles (Musicband)|The Beatles]] weren't immune to this, according to [[Paul McCartney (Music)|Paul McCartney]]:
{{quote| "Somebody said to me, 'But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.' That's a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, 'Now, let's write a swimming pool.'"}}
* Supposedly, lead singer Tarja Turunen's focus on money was the reason she was kicked out of the band [[Nightwish (Music)|Nightwish]].
* The Boomtown Rats never bothered to pretend that they weren't at least partly in it for the large sacks of cash they were getting out of their success, unlike pretty much every other punk band of the era, particularly the [[Sex Pistols]]. Interestingly enough, whilst Bob Geldof went on to devote his fame and connections to one of the greatest humanitarian endeavors of the 1980s, Johnny Rotten of the Pistols, after a decade of [[Doing It for Thethe Art]] with his acclaimed experimental band [[Public Image Ltd]], was last heard of appearing in a decidedly not-punk butter commercial.
** On a related note, while the artists appearing at Live Aid were unpaid, many of them were fully aware of the exposure they would get from their performances. While not entirely a case of this trope, some of the less keen artists were persuaded by their managers (and Bob himself in many cases) to take part because of the resulting publicity that would translate into increased sales.
* [[Anthrax (Music)|Anthrax]] rhythm guitarist Scott Ian responded to charges that the band was "selling out" with new singer John Bush and the more mainstream-sounding ''Sound of White Noise'' album by noting in an interview that "The bottom line is, everyone in this business is in it to make money. Myself included."
* Another example from [[Jay-Z]]'s "Moment of Clarity": ''I dumbed down for my audience, doubled my dollars/ [[Unpleasable Fanbase|They criticize me for it, but they all yell "Holla!"]]''
* In an interview on [[VH -1]] some years back, [[Kid Rock]] responded to comments made by another rock star in the vein of [[Doing It for Thethe Art]]. "I'm in the for the music? You're a lying sack of shit. You're a musician, I'm a musician, of course you're in it for the music; that's a given. Why are you REALLY doing it? Money and girls."
* Legendary band [[Kiss]] is blatantly and unapologetically in it for the money. Founder and band leader Gene Simmons makes no bones about it. [[Cash Cow Franchise|If there's a buck to be made, KISS will do it.]] They'll license anything if the money is right; action figures, lunch boxes, coffins, condoms and so on. Their unique work and over-the-top live shows were designed to draw people in and make more money. To their credit, their shows are still excellent, even at their age.
** Back in the 70s, Gene Simmons was asked if his mother approved Simmons' demonic stage makeup and costume. His response was, "Well, I don't know about that, but I know she approves of the house I bought her, so I guess it evens out."
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* Most reunions seem to be examples of this trope, but the [[Dead Kennedys]]' has been a particularly [[Egregious]] example due to the band's former anti-corporate stance. The band (minus Jello Biafra) now licenses songs for television commercials.
* [[The Monkees]] were on a British interview program just before their 2011 reunion tour kicked off. When asked why they were getting back together again, Peter Tork looked directly into the camera and (jokingly and literally) rubbed his fingers together..
* [[The Police (Music)|Sting]] is often bewildered at "[[Anti-Love Song|Every Breath You Take]]" [[Isn't It Ironic?|interpretation as a romantic song]], often played at people's weddings. But the ''£500,000 a year'', he earns from it in royalties as the most played song on UK and US radio probably helps.
** This is also likely the reason why Sting, a devoted environmentalist, agreed to shill for Jaguar and Compaq Computers during the promotion of his "Brand New Day" album. The Jaguar deal alone brought in more than 3 million extra sales of the album, and covered the costs of promoting the album (as the song "Desert Rose" was played in the commercial). Likewise, Sting and his production team got more than $7 million from Compaq, who sponsored the "Brand New Day Tour". Sting made out like a total bandit at the end of this.
 
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== Sports ==
* Unlike many fighters in MMA, UFC light heavyweight Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson always makes it clear that he's purely in it for the money, much to the confusion/amusement of most interviewers.
* Similar to Rampage, [[Dwayne Johnson|Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson]] walked away from his highly-successful professional wrestling career at age 32 after having a small measure of success in ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy Returns]]'' and ''[[The Scorpion King]]''. His film career consists of such gems as ''[[The Rundown]]'', ''[[Be Cool]]'', ''Walking Tall'', ''Gridiron Gang'', ''The Game Plan'', the ''[[Get Smart (Filmfilm)|Get Smart]]'' movie, ''[[The Tooth Fairy]]'', ''[[Race to Witch Mountain]]'', ''Doom'' and ''Planet 51''. He has stated in interviews that he liked wrestling more, but making films paid better, didn't require him to travel as much and didn't take as much of a toll on his body.
* Current [[TNA]] wrestler [[Kevin Nash]] has stated in the past year in interviews on ''TNA iMPACT!'' that he's only in TNA for the money. Listening to what others have said about Nash in real life, it's quite possible part of his gimmick is based on real life.
** Now that he's back in the WWE, Nash admitted that he signed with WCW for the same reason, guaranteed contract and a sweet clause in his contract that allowed him to be paid the same amount of money as the highest paid guy in the promotion.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/882833"
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