Rebel Wilson’s newest book Rebel Rising has sparked endless conversation so far.
Between her shocking reveal of the treatment she accuses Sacha Baron Cohen of putting her through on the set of The Brothers Grimsbsy and the reveal she lost her virginity at 35 to a fellow actor – Wilson has been in the news non-stop ahead of the book’s release.
In a segment revealed by People magazine, however, yet another shocking detail regarding the Australian actress’s career has been revealed.
Wilson’s breakout role was in Bridesmaids, the Oscar-nominated Paul Feig comedy where she starred alongside Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Maya Rudolph.
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Within two weeks of the movie’s premiere she booked six different movies, including Pitch Perfect, which went on to bring Wilson’s career to another level of success.
Whilst it paid off for her though, she earned a tiny amount in Bridesmaids considering the success it garnered, being paid just $3,500.
She said in the book that it ‘didn’t matter to [her]’ and that 'the experience was everything'.
The fee was reportedly just enough for her to join the SAG-AFTRA actors union, which allowed her to continue to make movies in the U.S.
This figure jumped to $65,000 for the first Pitch Perfect, and by the time the third film came around – she earned a whopping $10,000,000 for her role as ‘Fat Amy’.
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Speaking to The New York Times, she claimed that she was originally offered $9,000,000 – but was determined to get that massive eight figure contract for the film.
She said: “Universal Studios are incredible, but did they make a ton of money from the ‘Pitch Perfect’ movies? Yes.
"So despite me absolutely loving all those folks at Universal, did I use that leverage to my advantage? Yes. And in the 11th hour, I go, ‘You know, that’s a lovely offer of $9 million. But I need one more to make it 10.’
“That’s a big milestone when you’re an actor. To receive an eight-figure offer, for a woman, is huge.
“Sometimes women don’t like to talk about that. Whereas I don’t think the guys have any issues saying they get $20 million a movie.”
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The figure is an almost 300,000% increase from Bridesmaids, and announced the Australian comedic actor as one of the highest paid female actors of all time.
This leverage for Pitch Perfect 3 supposedly came in part due to plans by executives to replace the core cast of the Bellas for the third film – wanting to put a new cast of characters around Hailee Steinfeld, who was introduced in the second film.
This made the cast harder to rebook for the third film of the trilogy, especially as the second film with the original cast made nearly $300 million at the box office, the highest sum in the series.
The third film was still a huge success – with the acapella focused comedy earning $185 million at the box office off a budget of $45 million.
Revelations from Rebel Rising so far:
- Wilson revealed that she lost her virginity at age 35 to actor and comedian Mickey Gooch Jr.. "And, Micks, I know this might be news to you if you are reading this, but yes I lost my virginity to you," she wrote.
- Wilson has a whole chapter dedicated to ‘a**hole’ Sacha Baron Cohen, who she claims she felt ‘sexually harassed’ by whilst working on 2016 film, The Brothers Grimsby. "SBC summons me via a production assistant saying that I’m needed to film an additional scene. ‘Okay, well, we’re gonna film this extra scene,’ SBC says. "Then he pulls his pants down ... SBC says very matter-of-factly: ‘Okay, now I want you to stick your finger up my a**.’ And I’m like, ‘What?? ... No!!’ ...” Baron Cohen has since denied these claims.
Topics: Film and TV, Rebel Wilson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Money, Entertainment