WHAT'S AN OSCAR WORTH?
Christian Bale: Supporting Actor
As one of today’s top action-film stars, Bale already reportedly commands a salary in the $10 million range up front for studio tentpole films like The Dark Knight and Terminator Salvation. “Instead of getting $8 million, now he’ll get $12 million,” says one of the industry’s top managers. But as evidenced by Rescue Dawn, The Machinist, and, of course, The Fighter, Bale likes to alternate popcorn flicks with intimate labors of love. To wit, he’s now filming the period drama The 13 Women of Nanjing with acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) before starting on next summer’s Batman sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, for Christopher Nolan. One prominent agent says the Welsh actor’s Oscar win increases his overall clout in Hollywood: “It means it’s easier to build a passion project around him as a sole lead,” he says. “When there’s something he really wants to make, instead of having to make it for a $5 million budget, he can make it for $12 to $15 million. He can make more ambitious films where he’s the central lead outside of the studio system.” Bale’s charming acceptance speeches over the past few months have also helped humanize the formerly image-challenged star. “The thing that people hadn’t seen a lot from him before, which he shows in this movie, is a sense of levity,” says Fighter producer Todd Lieberman. “When people see this performance from Christian, they realize he can do everything.”
Melissa Leo: Supporting Actress
Clearly the least known of the four acting winners, the indie film mainstay could see a big financial impact from her win. As one agent puts it: "You can't go below scale [around $600 per day], and that's what she's been making." Now "she could get a $500,000 bump," says a source close to the actress. Adds one former CAA agent: "Even though she's a woman of a certain age, for her this is life-changing." Appearing in the upcoming horror flick Red State, as well as HBO's Mildred Pierce this month and Treme in April, Leo seems happy to be busy. "I know the harsh truths of my reality," she tells EW. "I am a 50-year-old woman in a business that worships youth at practically any cost. But I am getting great work offered to me, I feel like the luckiest middle-aged broad on the planet."
Natalie Portman: Actress
With her first baby on the way and a Best Actress victory just months before her 30th birthday, Natalie Portman is on a roll. "Her career in in a great spot," says one prominent agent. "The win validates a young career of really smart choices and puts her back in that place she was shortly after Star Wars, when she was white-hot." Still, the agent says Portman's win may not end up significantly affecting her paycheck. "She's already expensive," he says. "Depending on the film, she's making a few million bucks already. I don't think the win changes her life; it just makes her happy." But joining the select group of Best Actress winners does improve her standing in the industry. "Prior to this year, she was fifth or sixth on the list in her category," says a former CAA agent. "A year and a half ago, Katherine Heigl was ahead of her. This certainly puts her at the top of the list. It puts her in that category of a completely financeable actress all over the world." In other words, Portman - who has both the comedy Your Highness and the superhero drama Thor coming out later this spring - may not have signed on to her next project yet, but she'll now likely have her pick of scripts.
Colin Firth: Actor
More than two decades into this auspicious career, Colin Firth was already known as a fantastic actor. But now he's on the A-list. "He's a very respected artist, but the Oscar is the key to giving him a movie-star perception," says a former CAA agent. "Being a movie star is a much different category." For starters, Firth, who is believed to have earned in the $1 million range for 2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason but considerably less for the modestly budgeted The King's Speech, could now command a much fatter paycheck. "It gives him a jump into the low-to-mid-seven-figure space for the right role," says a leading agent. "It gives him a new accessibility within the studio system. Where he may have been the choice after Liam Neeson, he can now be on that par." Next month, he'll start shooting the art-heist caper Gambit with Cameron Diaz, and he's already wrapped the spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy[/i]. Beyond that, he hasn't chosen his next film. "I can only hope that the award doesn't change things too much," says producer Andrew Miano, who worked with Firth on 2009's A Single Man. "More money and choices, but he's doing the best work of his career and I am hopeful that will continue."
t:
....Well, I prefer Terry McGuiness, myself.
