Why does Hollywood pay absurd amounts of money to entertainers, models, etc?

[BradPradt]

I mean these people, alot of them really aren't that talented or even great looking, and if they are, it's due to all the fakeness galore money can buy; surgeries, etc. Also anyone can act, yet these people get paid MILLIONS, even the non famous ones get paid a good chunk, for what? A few lines in a movie which will be forgotten in a year's time anyways!?!?


I never understood this.

Are the studios and the people who produce the movies simply THAT rich that they can afford to shell out all that money every other movie to people and actors?

I just don't understand why they get paid so much; it's just completely overblown to me.

Then again it's a business like any other business, and I guess if you have a great resume/reputation, you can demand a certain salary.

But still; that's a whole lot of money for doing nothing except regurgitating lines and paying a doctor to fix your face up.
Also, why do people LOVE hollywood so much and these movies, and try to look good and be like the celebrities, when they'll never be able to afford the hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of work, clothes, etc, to really look like that.

They'll just look like cheap immitations, and even if they do manage to keep up,...they'll fade eventually and then be in debt, when the celebrity will just get made over again and again and again and not worry about losing any money.


The pressures and expectations Hollywood puts on the world are outrageous, and what's wrose is, Hollywood is nothing more than another cut-throat business, that just for whatever reason seems to pay VERY well, and it's all about creating illusions, which for whatever reason people fall for.



AM I being too cyncial? Or am I seeing it how it really is? IF I"m being negative, please educate me on how to see this from a positive angle.

 

[helmouth2001]

I totally understand where you're coming from, but you have to look at it this way, a production company will be willing to invest a lot of money into an actor if they know that that actor and their persona, acting ability, fame will ensure that their film gets a profit.

If you look at the film Hancock, Will Smith was paid his average earning fee of $20million, which by any standards is a huge amount. But the film made a gross total of $624million, and with their budget of $150million, that makes a profit of $474million...and the main reason why they've made such a huge profit is because of people wanting to go and see Will Smith. When you look at it that way, Will Smith's fee doesn't seem like much.

I don't think Hollywood necessarily puts expectations onto people, it just so happens that the consumer culture we live buy into all of that and want to live upto it. I think that says more about society rather than those in Hollywood.