Queen Latifah Has A No Death Clause In Her Movie Contracts, And 14 Other Bizarre Demands Made By Famous Actors

No other actor is allowed "more favourable dressing facilities."

Extravagant demands and riders by actors are not uncommon — sometimes, they even have them baked into their movie contracts!

CBS

Let's take a look at some of the more absurd contractual clauses from Hollywood's finest...

1. Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Statham

Universal Pictures

You've heard of equal pay, but how about equal pain? Well, that's the deal that Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, and Vin Diesel had with producers of the Fast series. Each tough guy was to receive an equal amount of "pain" in scenes, and no one was to be perceived to have lost a fight.

Apparently, Diesel thought up a sort of points system — based on kicks, punches, and head butts — by which he could measure the level of beating each one was getting and dishing out.

Diesel vs. Johnson:

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Johnson vs. Statham:

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2. Samuel L. Jackson

David Cannon / Via Getty Images

The hugely successful actor commands so much respect that he's practically in charge on set. Not only does he refuse to do second takes when he thinks they already have it, but he also adds a clause in his contracts allowing him the option to play golf twice a week.

The clause states that the production company must pay for it and practically carry him straight into the golf club. He's so obsessed with the game that he'll play up to 36 holes when he's got nothing on that day!

Here's him talking about his love of golf:

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3. Héctor Elizondo and Garry Marshall

Theo Wargo / WireImage for NBC Universal Photo Department / Via Getty Images

These two became friends after meeting by chance in 1979. Garry pitched the film Young Doctors in Love to Hector after Hector accidentally hit him in the face with a basketball...as you do. After working together on that movie, Hector went on to appear in all of Garry Marshall's films. 

Hector would later find out that this was actually because Garry had it written into each of his film contracts that he was allowed to cast his friend Hector in the movie! Now that's friendship <3.

Listen to Hector on his friendship with Garry:

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4. Uma Thurman

Stephane Cardinale/Corbis / Via Getty Images

Uma Thurman's contract for Eloise in Paris included a clause that ensured no other actor got more "favourable dressing facilities." The contract also included a minimum of a three-bedroom hotel suite and three mobile phones to use for the entire duration of filming.

In the end, the film was never made as a result of a lengthy legal dispute regarding pay and cancellation between Uma's representatives and HandMade. 

5. Jack Nicholson

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE / Via Getty Images

Jack Nicholson's love affair with the LA Lakers is well documented, and for years, the actor has been seen courtside watching his beloved basketball team. Nicholson was so devoted to not missing a game that when he was shooting Batman, he negotiated a condition that he was allowed extra time off filming so he could attend home games. 

This wasn't the only interesting part of his Batman contract; he also decided to reduce his salary and instead get a cut of the movie's box office and advertising costs, which bagged him an estimated $60-90m!

Take a look at what that impressive contract bought:

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6. Queen Latifah

New Line Cinema

As Queen Latifah was making her mark on Hollywood, there was one film that inspired her to add a clause to her film contracts for the betterment of her career. After making the movie Set It Off, in which her character had an epic death scene toward the end, Queen Latifah decided she'd had enough of dying in movies. 

From then on, she ensured that she'd always make it into the sequel by inserting a no-death clause in future film contracts!

Take a look at the death scene that became the final straw:

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7. Tom Cruise

Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise just may be THE archetypal action movie star of this century. However, he has insisted that his likeness cannot be used for any action figures or video game characters. So, if you were hoping for a Mission: Impossible or Top Gun action figure to collect, then it'll have to look fairly different from the real deal!

8. Quvenzhané Wallis

Sony Pictures Releasing

Having already been nominated for an Oscar by the time she was starring in Annie, Quvenzhané was on her way to becoming a star, and her contract definitely reflected it. It provided that the actor was entitled to 5% of merchandising profits and 10% of soundtrack album royalties.

What's more, she was able to choose which bloopers could be shown in any movie reels, she was allowed unlimited Wi-Fi in her trailer, AND she got to choose her own outfits for the film as long as she didn't allow others to borrow anything.

Here are some of those "allowed" bloopers:

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9. Roger Moore

United Artists

Roger Moore's Bond was known for his more-suave-less-active nature, and was often seen puffing on a cigar. This was a true reflection of Moore himself, as, for the seven films in which he portrayed the spy, he was contractually entitled to unlimited Montecristo cigars!

One of the famous cigar-based Bond scenes from Live and Let Die:

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10. Julianna Margulies

CBS

When agreeing to star as Alicia Florrick in The Good Wife, Julianna insisted on it being in her contract that she was able to wear a wig for her role. The reason was that she wanted to look different from her character on ER, nurse Carol Hathaway.

For the pilot, the wig — which was made in London — had to be flown over to Vancouver especially!

Left — Nurse Carol Hathaway; right — Alicia Florrick

NBC / CBS

11. Dolph Lundgren

The Cannon Group, Inc.

The Swedish actor had only two movie roles under his belt by the time he was cast as He-Man, and he had barely spoken in either of them. Dolph was known to struggle with his lines, and the marketing executives and director for He-Man were keen to get his voice dubbed over. 

Dolph, however, had it written into his contract that he was able to have three attempts at his dialogue before he was dubbed. Despite the studio getting in loopers to give it a go, the He-Man producers decided to go with Dolph's in the final cut. 

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12. Steve McQueen

Warner Bros.

The Towering Inferno was the meeting of two Hollywood heavyweights — Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Steve was insistent on having equal billing with Paul; hence, the movie poster which has Steve's name first from left to right, but marginally lower down that Paul's. 

Steve, who had chosen the role of the fireman, also ensured that he and the architect (Paul) had exactly the same amount of lines and that his character would have the final word. 

Here's the movie poster with the "equal" billing:

LMPC / Via Getty Images

13. Tom Cruise (again)

Universal Pictures

Tom had a rather powerful clause in his contract for starring in (and doing just about everything else for) The Mummy. It was reported that Universal contractually guaranteed Tom a vast amount of control over the project, from approving the script to having a say over post-production.

Tom initiated various changes, including bringing in new script writers, which resulted in far more screen time for him. He also decided to opt for a June release despite it being a congested summer for action movies.

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14. George Clooney

Warner Bros. Pictures

George Clooney, as with many of the actors on this list, is one of Hollywood's biggest names; therefore, the actor is able make some rather extravagant requests on set. During his time making Gravity, George required a private beach hut style residence to be built for him to spend downtime in off set. 

He also requested a basketball court to be built for him to get some exercise while on set, which was enjoyed not only by him, but also by Sandra Bullock's 16-year-old son during his visits.

15. Mark Wahlberg

Gregg Deguire / FilmMagic, Jason Merritt / Getty Images

Mark was initially supposed to play the lead role in Silver Linings Playbook, a role that would eventually go to Bradley Cooper. In Mark's contract for the role, he'd included a peculiar clause that entitled him to $900,000 if the lead opposite him (Anne Hathaway at the time) dropped out.

This was to protect him from box office losses if his co-star was replaced by a less well-known actor. What's funny is that Anne eventually did drop out, and had Mark kept the job, he would have received a large payout just for acting opposite Jennifer Lawrence instead!

What are the wildest actor demands you've heard of? Let us know in the comments below!