The Spring 2000 issue (#540) of Entertainment Weekly contains two caracatures and tidbits about SLY. The following is the second item.
(Artwork removed at the request of representatives of Roberto Parada)
DANIEL FIERMAN in an article titled “BIG DEALS” (with an illustration by ROBERTO PARADA), gives a “rundown of some significant deals that earned creative types a bigger slice of the pie.”
The #1 “big deal” is:
SYLVESTER STALLONE
* The Date: August 1995
* The Deal: One week after RON MEYER leaves the Creative Artists Agency to become president of MCA – then the parent company of Universal Pictures – he signs former client SYLVESTER STALLONE to a first-look, three picture deal worth $60 million. The pact would make the international star the second confirmed member of the $20 million club (after JIM CARREY), marking his highest potential per-picture paycheck to date, despite the recent box office disappointment of the $34.7 million grossing Judge Dredd.
* The Aftermath: Not pretty. After flirting with a long list of projects, the actor completed no pictures and received no payment from the deal, which expired in February 2000.
What the article doesn’t emphasize is that SLY was the first actor to be signed to a three picture deal for $20 million per picture. JIM CARREY‘S deal was for one movie!
– Craig Zablo
May 20, 2000