17 Celebrities Who Tend to Add Extravagant Clauses in Their Contracts

They say you need to discuss all terms before signing a contract, and this is what celebrities always do. Apart from including standard clauses and the amount for their compensation, they usually also include everything to make their work as effective and comfortable as possible in the contract. However, these requests may seem slightly extravagant.

1. Johnny Depp

To attract A-list actors to a certain movie, a studio may agree to add a strange contractual clause called “pay or play.” According to it, a star gets paid no matter what. For example, if the production get delayed or even cancelled, the actor will be fully paid anyway.

This is what happened to Johnny Depp when he signed the contract for playing Grindelwald in the third Fantastic Beasts movie. After being filmed only in one scene, Depp was asked to leave by Warner Bros. And since he was fired not for any misconduct, the studio had to pay out his entire fee. It was rumored that the amount was a stonking $16 million.

2. Tom Cruise

In Tom Cruise’ contracts, there is clause which prevents his likeness being used for action figures, video games, and any merchandise. Despite the obvious commercial potential of Mission: Impossible action figures, the only Ethan Hunt figures have been made by fans, and are unofficial. Tom Cruise doesn’t provide any plausible explanation to his demand. It’s a little a bit strange because this could bring him some additional revenue.

3. Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez looks great in white without any doubt. She seems to know it well and this may be why she tries to surround herself with everything white. The singer’s tour rider says that there should be white flowers, white furniture, and white curtains in any hotel room she stays in. Jennifer also requests Cuban cuisine.

4. M.I.A.

British hip-hop artist M.I.A. loves cheese. Her tour rider says that she should be provided with an organic cheese tray featuring Gruyere, Swiss, and sharp cheddar, along with organic berries, fresh olives, and Ferrero Rocher chocolates. It doesn’t seem over the top, but M.I.A requests that her Gruyere should be cave-aged. This could cause a bit of a headache for anyone trying to fulfill her request.

5. Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson is a big golf fan. The actor has it written into all of his movie contracts that he’s allowed to play golf twice a week throughout the duration of the shoot. You might think that Samuel could wait until his project finishes and then play golf as much as he wants. But the fact is that he is one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood. His schedule is so busy that he has to negotiate breaks and golf sessions in his contracts.

6. Vin Diesel

The Fast and Furious star does everything to look like a tough guy. This is why his contract stipulates the limit of punches he can take during a fighting scene. The actor even went so far as to develop his own system. According to his process, he assigns a numerical value to each blow he receives on screen. In his opinion, this guarantees that each actor will take an equal number of punches and won’t look less tough than their co-stars.

This system outlived its usefulness eventually, though the Fast and Furious producer, Michael Fottrell, confirmed that the series’ fights are choreographed to ensure that none of the bigger stars end up losing outright.

7. Dwayne Johnson

Vin Diesel’s method inspired his Fast and Furious co-star, Dwayne Johnson, to include a certain clause into his contracts. According to the clause, The Rock should not lose any on-screen fight. However, it’s worth mentioning that the actor doesn’t want his victories to look fake. This is why Dwayne Johnson hires a whole team of producers, editors, and fight choreographers who help him assure that he does everything possible to win a fight.

8. Christina Aguilera

Singer Christina Aguilera is a healthy lifestyle supporter, so she requests Echinacea, vitamin C, and Flintstones chewable vitamins while on tour. She also wants real coffee mugs for her coffee, along with soy milk and soy cheese.

9. Paul McCartney

Being an animal rights activist, Sir Paul McCartney was very specific in his tour rider about the things that should never appear near him. For example, the singer should never be served with meat or any other animal-based products, he won’t travel in limousines with leather seats, and he won’t be near furniture made from animal print, even if it’s artificial.

10. Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan always includes a clause that he can play basketball whenever he wants in his contract. It might seem weird, but in reality, most NBA players have to sign an agreement that they won’t play anywhere outside training and official games.

An NBA regular season includes 82 games. Because of this, the teams’ management typically wants their players to recover during the breaks, not add more athletic load. Besides, there may be risk of rolling an ankle or spraining a knee. So, it makes a lot of sense that the management would want to limit their players’ recreational activities.

11. George Clooney

Many people know that you should have a proper rest after a period of productive and intense work, even if it happens right in the midst of movie production. Following this principle, George Clooney had it written in his contract for Gravity that he would have a house build specifically for him. Even though he got only a trailer, it was attached to a private beach hut which had a hot tub, decking area, basketball court, and landscape garden.

12. Chris Martin

Constantly being on tour can mean long periods of separation from loved ones. But Chris Martin and his Coldplay colleagues found a way to make the road less lonely. In addition to necessities like food and beverages, the musicians’ tour rider asks for postcards from every host city so they can send them home to their children while on tour.

13. Uma Thurman

While working on the movie Eloise in Paris, Uma Thurman included a clause about discounts in her contract. According to it, if she decided to buy any clothes and wigs used during the shoot, she can count on these discounts. Uma also asked for the best dressing room, probably so that she could try on her new outfits there.

14. Jack Nicholson

What would you do if you had courtside season tickets for the games of your favorite sports team but had to miss the game because you have to film a movie? Well, you could always add a clause in your contract, which says that you can have a day off when your team is playing. Jack Nicholson is a big fan of LA Lakers, and this is the exact clause he puts in his contracts. The actor has owned courtside season tickets for the LA Lakers at the Staples Center ever since the 1970s, and he rarely misses a game even today.

15. Julianna Margulies

It was probably hard work playing Alicia Florrick in the series The Good Wife, especially taking into account the fact that Julianna had to always have perfect hair. The actress anticipated this little issue by adding a clause in her contract that she was allowed to wear a wig. The subsequent brown wig created just for her ended up costing $10,000, but according to Margulies, it was worth every penny.

16. Cher

No one can understand Julianna Margulies better than Cher because she has so many wigs that her tour rider includes an entire room for her wig collection. She also requests a slushie machine and both white and milk chocolate fountains. However, it’s unknown whether these are usually placed in the wigs’ room or separately.

17. Mark Wahlberg

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence were brilliant in their starring roles in the movie Silver Linings Playbook. But in fact, different actors were originally supposed to play these roles: Mark Wahlberg and Anne Hathaway. Mark believed in their duo so much that he even added a clause in his contract, which said that if Anne Hathaway pulled out, he would receive a $900,000 bonus. This way, he wanted to protect himself from any box office losses if a lesser-known actress took the role.

Eventually, scheduling forced Wahlberg to leave, otherwise he would’ve got almost an extra million bucks simply for working opposite Lawrence.

Which clause in celebrities’ contracts did you find the weirdest?