IIRC some even worked for free/way below their regular pay. It was just a fun project to be part of
The scenes of Clooney as the President in Spy Kids 3 were allegedly shot by Clooney in a day in his own living room with a camcorder he just had lying around.
There’s no free in Hollywood because of the screen actors guild, but they can opt to work for the minimum.
See also: the postmodern piece of kino known as Hoodwinked!, which somehow managed to grab Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Xzibit on a microbudget without the help of any major studio.
Patrick Warburton is the only one on that list who was actually on board with the film in its small budget phase. The rest came aboard after the Weinstein Company stepped in to be the distributor.
Picking up movies that were already finished for cheap and then using industry connections and capital to forcefully inject more star power into the voice cast is apparently something the Weinsteins did several times. They did the same thing to The Magic Roundabout (marketed in America as Doogal).
Funnily enough, getting the Weinsteins involved with Hoodwinked! in the first place was a chance encounter made possible by Robert Rodriguez’s wife.
Not available in Canada 😮💨
Or Denmark 😮💨
Literally 1Q84
They all worked with him before. So they knew it was Rodriguez’ passion project and did him a favor. Probably also a great director to work with.
Danny Trejo describes being on his films as a kind of family reunion for a lot of Latino actors and actresses
