10 years ago, Taylor Kitsch had been positioned as Hollywood’s next major blockbuster leading man-in-waiting. In the space of a few weeks, the rising star took top billing in Disney’s mega budget sci-fi John Carter, and Peter Berg’s questionable board game adaptation Battleship. Unfortunately, things did not end up going too well.
There must have been huge pressure on the actor’s shoulders, which is understandable when the combined production costs for the two projects reached almost $500 million. In the end, though, John Carter wound up as one of the biggest bombs in history, with Battleship at least faring marginally better, but hardly setting the world alight.
In the decade since, Kitsch has largely shied away from studio-backed fare to deliver a string of interesting, accomplished, and against-type performances, but he did refreshingly admit to Esquire that he’s not above the idea of taking the money and running should the right offer come his way.
“Oh, I’ll do voice-over sh*t. But do I want to do Saw 9–14? Probably not. But I’m also for sale. If they want to give me $10 million a movie, I’ll go do Saw f*cking 9–14. I just wanted to sound like I’m not that cheap.”
A lot of thespians will go out in the public eye and claim they’re drawn to quality above remuneration every time they sign on for a new film or TV series, but we all know that money talks loudest in the industry at the end of the day. Kitsch is just saying out loud what the majority of his peers are thinking, but that doesn’t make it any less refreshing to hear.
