Jason Isaacs confirms 'The White Lotus' Season 3 actors' salaries
Jason Isaacs has given insight into the "very low" paychecks he and his "The White Lotus" co-stars received for Season 3 of the HBO show.
In a new interview with Vulture, published June 16, Isaacs confirmed he and fellow cast members were paid $40,000 per episode. Or, $320,000, for an 8-episode season. Isaacs played Timothy Ratliff, a wealthy North Carolina businessman secretly dealing with a scandal exploding back home while on vacation with his wife and three children.
“I didn’t know that was public knowledge,” Isaacs, 62, told the media outlet. “That’s absolutely true. Generally actors don’t talk about pay in public because it’s ridiculously disproportionate to what we do — putting on makeup and funny voices — and just upsets the public.”
Isaacs added that compared to what actors "normally get paid for big television shows, that’s a very low price."
"But the fact is, we would have paid to be in it. We probably would have given a body part," he noted.
HBO Max did not immediately respond to Paste BN's request for more information on June 17.
Isaacs says he doesn't work for the money
When asked if he was bothered by actors with less experience than him, like costar Patrick Schwarzenegger, who played his son Saxon Ratliff, earning the same as him, Isaacs said he "never work(s) for money."
“Do I mind that I wasn’t paid more than other people?" he remarked in the interview. "I never work for money."
He continued: "I mean, I’ve done all right. People will think I have huge stockpiles of money but sadly, what I’ve done rather immaturely is expand my outgoings to match my incomings and pretty much spent everything I’ve earned over the years.”
Everyone is treated the same, producers say
Casting director Meredith Tucker and producer David Bernad, in an April interview with The Hollywood Reporter, revealed that cast members on "The White Lotus" were paid the same.
“Everyone is treated the same on 'The White Lotus',” Bernad told the publication. “They get paid the same, and we do alphabetical billing, so you’re getting people who want to do the project for the right reasons, not to quote 'The Bachelor'. It’s a system we developed in the first season because there was no money to make the show.”
Tucker added: “It makes it so much easier. You tell people this is what it is. And some won’t do it — and honestly, you can’t hold it against people who need to make a living. Our series regulars are pretty much doing this for scale.”
“And it’s not negotiable,” Bernad noted.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.