People continue to quote the foul-mouthed jock Stifler today, making him one of the most recognizable comedy characters in the last twenty or so years.
Despite being one of the most popular comedies of all time, Seann William Scott received very little compensation for his leading part.
I really, really, truly mean virtually anything when I say that, just $8,000 to be precise.
To put that into perspective, the 1999 movie only cost $11 million to make and grossed an astounding $235 million at the international box office.
Scott, who worked on the movie for just six days, admitted to Rick Eisen that he initially believed that the Stifmeister had been overpaid.
When asked if it was true that he only made a few hundred dollars for the movie, the 46-year-old responded, “That was a lot of money at the time for me. Ch-ching!
“Yeah, because afterwards, I bought a used Thunderbird for like $5,000, or maybe $6k. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, baby’.”
“I don’t know what happened to the other $2k, because then I ended up having to work at the LA Zoo as a churros guy. So maybe it was even less than $8k.”
Scott responded when questioned about the meager sum: “It was before it came out. So I shot the movie, we’re waiting for it to come out, I got the Thunderbird, maybe I spent all of it on the Thunderbird, maybe it was like the entire $8k or $7k, and then I had this other other job and then I worked at the LA Zoo, waiting for the movie to come out.”
Fortunately for Scott, the movie was such a hit that it gave rise to a whole series.
The actor went on to star in three additional films, American Pie 2, American Pie: The Wedding, and American Reunion, for which he received a cool $5 million. Which isn’t bad at all.
He also went on to have a reasonably successful film career, so I believe he has fared well subsequently.
It was confirmed last month that there would be another American Pie sequel.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sujata Day, an Insecure performer and Definition Please director, will write the new movie based on her “original pitch.”
Although the plot has not yet been made public, it is anticipated to offer a “fresh take” on the franchise.
“The multihyphenate is set to develop and write a new installment of the long-running sex comedy franchise for Universal 1440 Entertainment, a production arm of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group,” the source reported.
As the project is still in its early stages, it is also unknown whether any members of the original cast—which includes people like Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Scott, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, John Cho, and Jennifer Coolidge—will be involved.
Let’s hope that comes to pass.