Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro has had a long and successful career, thanks to classic films such as ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,’ ‘The Usual Suspects,’ ‘Basquiat,’ and Oscar-winning ‘One Battle After Another.‘
But one of his easiest paychecks came in 2007 from a movie he never filmed. Long before ‘American Gangster‘ became a modern crime classic starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, del Toro almost became a part of the project. While its production never materialized, he still ended up taking home a staggering $5 million.
Benicio del Toro Got Paid Without Working On ‘American Gangster’
Originally supposed to be produced by Universal Pictures with Antoine Fuqua as the director, ‘American Gangster’ had Denzel Washington playing the Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas and Benicio del Toro as detective Richie Roberts.
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But before the creators could start filming in Harlem, Universal Pictures decided to shelve the project. It happened after Fuqua left following disputes over creative issues. After that, the studio spent several days trying to find a substitute.
Fearing the delay would only shoot up the budget, which had already reached $80 million, the studio believed it wasn’t worth spending more. Del Toro got his $5 million salary despite his absence from the movie because of the pay-or-play contract.
It’s a contract that guarantees compensation to an actor, director, or any other participant in the production when a project faces cancellation, delay, or cast shake-ups. Here, del Toro never stepped in front of the camera, but the contract obliged the studio to pay the Oscar-winning actor anyway.
After the unfortunate turn of events, Universal decided to revive it, bringing in Ridley Scott to direct. While Washington stayed in the role of Frank Lucas, Russell Crowe replaced del Toro to play detective Richie Roberts.
Ridley Scott Produced The Movie With A New Cast
Released in 2007, the new version of ‘American Gangster’ became a success both commercially and critically. It draws from a real-life story of the drug trafficker Frank Lucas, who built a criminal empire in the 1960s.
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According to reports, he smuggled heroin into the USA from Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War while keeping up the guise of a legitimate businessman. Crowe’s character, Detective Richie Roberts, decides to take down Lucas’ drug empire.
Known for being an honest officer, he starts hunting down primary culprits on Lucas’s team, which actually works with corrupt cops. The most important thing that worked for this movie was Ridley Scott’s ability to balance several subplots.
By doing so, he could focus only on the two main characters. It allowed Washington and Crowe to show nuanced characters instead of just heroes and villains. ‘American Gangster’ became one of the top crime dramas of the 2000s and one of the highlights in the career of both actors.
After its release, the movie gained an 81% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on a total of 218 reviews. The website’s consensus view reads, “American Gangster is a gritty and entertaining throwback to classic gangster films, with its lead performers firing on all cylinders.”
The famous film critic Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times gave the movie a four-star rating. “This is an engrossing story, told smoothly and well.” Ebert also praised Crowe’s performance, saying that his contribution to the storytelling was “enormous,” he wrote in his review.
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