Matt Damon says George Clooney was earning around $20K an episode on “ER” while his co-star made $1M,
because renegotiating his contract would’ve meant giving the show more years when he wanted to pursue movies instead.
“When we started, it was different. I mean, like George Clooney, for instance, there was a big thing.”
“He very famously became this superstar on ER.”
“That show, 40 million people a week were watching that show. It was the biggest thing, right? Because there were only a few channels to tune into, and that show was the biggest one.”
“And George never renegotiated his contract. He wanted to work in movies, and it was like, ‘You can’t go from TV to movies.’”
“It’s very hard. Very few people can do it.”
“And he really strategically and kind of patiently… he joked that on the last episode he was on, Anthony Edwards, his co-star, was making a million bucks for the episode.”
“And he was making, you know, 20 grand or whatever his deal was.”
“He could have renegotiated, but he would have had to give more years.”
“That’s how bad he wanted to get off TV and do movies.”