As ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ approaches, set to arrive some 38 years after ‘A New Hope’ made stars of the cast, we got to wondering just how much the likes of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were paid for their troubles.

Did they cash in single paycheques, or did they play the smart game and take percentage points, ensuring they’d forever live in solid gold houses and drive rocket cars? Read on to find out…

Harrison Ford - Han Solo

Aside from George Lucas, Ford was arguably the man who profited most from ‘Star Wars’ – just not necessarily in financial terms. After earning $500 a week in Lucas’ 'American Grafitti’, Ford supplemented his carpentry income by reading Han Solo’s lines during 'Star Wars’ auditions; Lucas liked him so much, he got the role for a cool $10,000.

Though he never signed a contract throughout the trilogy, Ford had one hell of a pay rise for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, earning $100,000, but he quintupled that figure for ‘Return Of The Jedi’. Given how ambivalent he seems towards ‘Star Wars’ these days, one wonders exactly how big a paycheque was written to lure him back for ‘Episode VII’ – and you have to think his broken leg is going to cost Disney.



Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker

Unlike Ford, Hamill was actually a career actor and had plenty of TV experience before he was cast as Luke Skywalker, the role of a lifetime. Hamill’s salary for ‘A New Hope’ was allegedly $650,000 – not a bad chunk of change back in 1977. However, this fee was in addition to percentage points which many of the principle actors agreed on: they would receive ¼ of a per cent of the movie’s total profit, as well as revenue on re-releases, TV screenings and more.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that that tiny percentage point would end up making Mark Hamill way more rich than his up-front payday. He won’t come cheap for ‘Episode VII’ either.



Carrie Fisher - Princess Leia

Though Fisher’s salary for the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy was never disclosed, she did reveal that she didn’t benefit from some of the merchandising deals that made the movie’s more forward-thinking cast members millionaires. “When I was 19, I was cast as Princess Leia in ‘Star Wars’,” says Fisher. “The mistake was I signed away my likeness for free.”

You can bet she negotiated a smarter deal for ‘Episode VII’, but that doesn’t mean her missed opportunity doesn’t hurt. “I wonder if Natalie Portman is getting more money than the none I’m getting,” she says. “If she’s holding a cheque for Princess Amidala’s likeness in one hand and her Oscar in the other, that would piss me off.” Fisher did, however, receive ¼ of a per cent of ‘Star Wars” profits.



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