KWC

Christopher Reeve played Superman for a reported $250,000. Marlon Brando got $3.7 million for 12 days of work, and read his lines off the baby's diaper. 1977. The producers, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, need a name to sell the film. They sign Brando to play Superman's father. His deal: a $3.7 million fee, plus 11.3% of the domestic gross. About 10 minutes on screen. Then they sign Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor for another $2 million. For the lead, they pick an unknown 24-year-old from Juilliard. Reeve spends six months building muscle, trained by David Prowse, the man inside Darth Vader's suit. Brando refuses to learn his lines. The crew hides cue cards all over the set of Krypton. In the scene where he sends his son to Earth, the script is taped to the baby. Superman made about $300 million worldwide. With his percentage, Brando's total came to around $19 million, more than Reeve and Hackman combined. Then the Salkinds stopped paying. Brando sued for his share. So they cut him out of Superman II entirely, and saved what they would have owed him. Four years later, Letterman asked Reeve what it was like to work with Brando. "He just took the 2 million and ran." The case for Brando: his name sold a $55 million gamble on a man in a cape. The case for Reeve: he was Superman. Brando was 10 minutes and a diaper. Here's the lesson: the name on the poster gets paid. The face on the screen gets famous. In the video, Reeve says it on national TV, and Letterman has a joke ready. Watch him, then decide. Did Brando earn it, or did Superman get robbed?