The biggest enemy of highly paid Hollywood superstars — and the biggest hero to budget-conscious studio chiefs — is Ike Perlmutter, the Israeli investor who became the second-largest shareholder in Disney when Disney bought his Marvel Entertainment last year.
“His whole MO [modus operandi] is to take on the star system,” said a Page Six source.
When Tom Cruise would have charged $20 million to star in the first “Iron Man” (2008), the tough Perlmutter opted for rehabbed Robert Downey Jr., who badlyneeded a comeback.
When Terrence Howard asked for too much money to reprise his role in the “Iron Man” sequel, Perlmutter went out and got Don Cheadle.
The relatively cheap Chris Evans will star in “Captain America,” and Chris Hemsworth — who? — is “Thor,” filming now in LA and New Mexico.
A Marvel spokeswoman conceded Perlmutter and his team “definitely are negotiators.” But there is also the idea at Marvel that big-name actors aren’t needed.
“Cruise’s people reached out, but Marvel decided they didn’t want the actor to overshadow the superhero. They are great at transforming [less famous] actors into superheroes,” one source told us. Another said, “They think the franchises speak for themselves. Ike doesn’t play Hollywood games.”
Movie City News blogger David Poland recently reported, “It was getting crazy for a while there — $20 million salaries were becoming standard for a lot of actors who didn’t deserve them.
“The big story . . . was Tom Cruise taking home $60 million for ‘Mission: Impossible 4’ while Paramount barely covered its costs,” Poland continued. “But I am not sure we need to start a charity for actors getting paid $7 million up front instead of $13 million, or $10 million instead of $25 million.”