bigger names + bigger pay = smaller budget?

[Mandy]

Sassy Snape : 
> Does anybody else think the movies are becoming more of a bigger-
> acting-names-must-be-seen-to-be-cool sort of thing. 
> I loved that Quirrel and Tom Riddle were not played by big names 
> (sorry, taking this from a North American perspective)and some of 
the other characters were peppered with some interesting character 
> actors. I know they had some other big names for the unknown youths 
> to play off of, but now the kids are names, so do we really need a 
> big name to add to the production?
> Now with bigger names for key characters (Gary Oldman, Ralph 
Finnes, Julie Christie, Dawn French, Miranda Richardson) comes bigger 
> paycheques and less of the budget for the actual film. And these 
> actors may be in the position to ask for more money for future 
films. (Madam Hooch thought she should get more and she wasn't 
exactly huge in NA or had a big part)


Mandy here:

The situation with Zoë Wanamaker as Madam Hooch was unfortunate.  
While I have no idea what actually happened I've heard it was to do 
with the fact that for the first movie the actors were all paid the 
basic wage for a film actors in the UK.  They were all asked to sign 
on to do the CoS before PS/SS was released and did so at the same or 
similar rate of pay.  When PS/SS proved to be such a success some of 
the actors asked for more money to reflect the amount grossed by the 
film makers, Warner Bros.  You make ask why didn't they think of that 
before they signed on for CoS? Unfortunately the film industry takes 
advantage of actors whenever they can as the producers are in the 
power position.  Contracts are often drawn up and signed, only to be 
re-negotiated later after the first film is deemed a success.  The 
producers do this to protect their end, leaving it up to the weaker 
actor to fight for more money.  It is why Equity exists and in fact 
Equity had to step in and fight for Dan Radcliff as he was paid 
something like 200,000 pounds for the first movie and Warner Bros., 
signed him of for CoS for the same amount (or a little more)!  This 
was clearly wrong as he is the films star, his salary should have 
increased with the sucess of the first film.  And indeed Equity re-
negotiated his salary for CoS to reflect his new position.  His new 
wage was in the region of 2 million.  Zoë Wanamaker was an 
unfortunate scapegoat for the whole affair.

 You don't have to worry about the budget, GoF is going to be the 
most expensive movie ever made.  It has a budget of 350 million or 
something crazy.  And Warner Bros can afford it, with both PS/SS and 
CoS grossing over a billion each worldwide, and PoA well on it's way 
down the same road.  The Potter franchise is a cash cow and will 
continue to be one unless there is a flop.

Warner Bros., can afford to and are willing to pay whatever they want 
for their names actors.  What is interesting is British actors do not 
expect, and are not paid the same astronomical amounts as their 
American counter parts, choosing to work for critical acclaim rather 
than money.  And we know that there are no diva antics going on in 
these films, which is more typical of American 'stars', as the 
British stars appear to be happy to work in the smallest of roles 
with very little airtime.  You can bet that if an American 'star' was 
involved, they'd be demanding their role be increased to reflect 
their 'star' status, I not saying the Americans are ungrateful, it is 
just acceptable behavior in Hollywood.  

So while we don't know if the names are being paid astronomical 
amounts (and they might be) we do know they are all very excited to 
be involved in the saga.  They know they're part of history in the 
making. The HP films are true ensemble pictures, which is rear these 
days. There has never been a project with such a large ensemble of 
well-respected and talented British thespians.  It has to be JKR's 
dream cast!