James McAvoy has made his fair share of great movies over the years, but according to the actor, there’s only one that still “consistently” pays off in residuals for him. And no, it’s not any of the X-Men films.
McAvoy appeared on the latest episode of Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, in support of his directorial debut, “California Schemin’” and, as the conversation wrapped up, noted that he thinks he’ll probably start directing more and acting less. He joked that acting pays more though, prompting Horowitz to rib the actor about his “sweet ‘Wanted’ money.”
“Sweet, sweet ‘Wanted’ money,’” McAvoy jokingly agreed. “I don’t get too much money from ‘Wanted.’”
The actor noted that back-end deals are often part of an actor’s contract, but that he “very rarely” sees any kind of real payout. He noted that sometimes a check comes for a few hundred dollars, and sometimes it’s so small that it costs more to post the check than is actually on the check. Naturally, Horowitz wondered what movie of McAvoy’s actually does pay out.
“The only one that really consistently pays me is ‘Split,’” McAvoy revealed, to the surprise of the host.
“Well, because we made it for — I think it was made for like six million or something like that,” he explained. “And let’s say they spent 30 advertising it. In our first weekend, we made 40. So, we were in profit. So, our first residual check came at the end of the first weekend. It was bonkers.“
You can watch James McAvoy’s full appearance on “Happy Sad Confused” in the video above.
