“He was notorious for that.
I did encounter that.
And Im still out money,” Smith says.
Credit: Everett Collection
“But you got to understand, I never cared about the money.
My whole career, my reps were like: ‘Youre supposed to be making far more.’
Money’s never been a motivator for me.”
“This much I know.
They boughtClerksfor $227,000,” Smith says.
“And the movie went out and made $3 million at the box office and stuff.
And it took seven years for us to see any profit from that movie.
For seven years, they were like, ‘Nope, the movie is still not in profit.’
And we were like, ‘How?’
And then there were things.”
Miramax didnt getClerksin," he says.
“We were in the International Critics Week section, which we actually won.
I get flown over by the festival.
I was given a free hotel room from the festival.
This is a long way of saying Miramax didnt have to pay for anything.”
He continues, “There was a yacht, the Miramax yacht, it was called.
Thats where all the stars were.
But that yacht wasnt for us.
When the festival was over, we got the financial statement.
I remember John Sloss, my lawyer, being like, ‘This is nuts.
We have to audit them.’
And I said, ‘No, I cant audit people Im in business with.
And we never audited them for years until afterClerks 2.”
“But it felt like ‘Oh, there it is.
But the nature of this business is everybody wants to keep as much money as they possibly can.”
“Believe me, I aint crying poor.
And I got ridiculous escalating salaries,” he says.
So come on, thats ridiculous.
But that was my salary.
Upfront money was so good.
I was never like, ‘Hey man, wheres those nickels and dimes on the back end?’
And perhaps thats why they kept making movies with me, even though my movies werent box-office profitable.
Home video, they were goldmines.
Thats really why they kept me around."
