- Dwayne Johnson’s contract clause stating he can’t lose a fight has been adopted by his Fast & Furious co-stars, making fight scene choreography difficult.
- Other actors in Hollywood have strange demands in their contracts, ranging from keeping fit while shooting to diva-like requests.
- Examples include Queen Latifah’s anti-death clause, Uma Thurman’s request for better dressing rooms, and Samuel L. Jackson’s golf breaks while filming.
Dwayne Johnson famously made headlines due to his strange “The Rock can’t lose a fight contract” that conflicted with Vin Diesel’s contract, but so many other actors have bizarre contact clauses too. The Rock is influential not only when it comes to bodybuilding and confidence, but one specific element of his contract was adopted by his Fast & Furious co-stars too, which made it extremely difficult to choreograph fight scenes. However, Rock is far from the only actor in Hollywood with strange demands. If Johnson has ever seemed invincible in his movies, that’s because his contract clause essentially dictates exactly that.
Whether it’s the Fast & Furious franchise, the Jumanji series, or Black Adam, The Rock can’t lose a fight. However, when it comes to demands in Hollywood, Johnson’s clause is to at least protect the actor’s particular brand. Johnson isn’t the only bankable movie star with strange contract clauses. In fact, some of the most famous actors in history have been known to mandate unbelievable conditions while on a movie set. When it comes to other actors’ contract clauses, they range from the purpose of keeping fit while shooting to the demands of outright prima donnas. It seems that the more famous the actors are, the stranger their contact clauses are.
According to the Wall Street Journal, both The Rock and his Fast & Furious co-stars, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham, have negotiated conditions in their movie contracts that limit the number of punches they can sustain and how badly injured they are onscreen. With the three masculine movie stars jockeying for onscreen supremacy, none of them were willing to back down and look weak compared to the others, which led to The Rock and Diesel’s Fast & Furious feud. It was Diesel’s idea ahead to begin counting the number of kicks, punches, headbutts, and body slams his character received onscreen to ensure a fair fight between the characters.
Most A-list movie stars welcome the opportunity to earn more revenue through ancillary video games and action figures seems. However, according to The Independent, Tom Cruise has stipulated in his movie contracts that his physical likeness cannot be replicated for use in video games or toy lines. As well, in 2017, Variety reported that Cruise had also gained excessive creative control as part of his contractual agreement while working on The Mummy. That included choosing a June release date and cherry-picking his own personally-approved screenwriters, and more screen time. Unfortunately, none of that helped, as The Mummy bombed at the box office.
With over 200 acting credits to his name, Samuel L. Jackson deserves a luxurious break from time to time. As such, the beloved actor has added a clause in his movie contracts that grants him the opportunity to play golf twice a week while filming a movie (via Vanity Fair). The condition also includes the production paying for Jackson’s golf outings and providing transportation to and from the local golf courses. Jackson is known to play up to 36 holes on days he isn’t scheduled to film. According to BuzzFeed, Jackson also refuses to do multiple takes of a shot if he feels he’s already captured what’s needed on camera.
