Meritorious Artist Thanh Loc has just returned with the movie project "Once We Were In Love". In this project, he plays the husband of People's Artist Le Khanh.
When asked by reporters about the salary, especially the information that to invite him to act in a movie, you have to spend billions of VND, the male artist said: "I listened to it and got used to it, but I really have to be clear that there has never been a case where I set a billion-VND salary to receive a movie.
Even, many times I am surprised because people assume that I am "uninvited" because the cat-xe for me is too high. No! I am difficult in being picky about scripts, not picky about money.
I always know my position in cinema very well. I am not the type of actor who guarantees box office revenue every time I appear. The audience appreciates me more for my kindness in the profession, for the belief that if Thanh Loc accepts, at least he will be serious about that work. That's all. So if anyone thinks I'm asking for a high price to make things difficult for the producer, it's too unfair to me".
However, in some cases, Meritorious Artist Thanh Loc said that he was forced to "chout" for his salary as a way to refuse roles that were not suitable for him.
He said: "There is one thing few people know is that sometimes I even "raise the price" just to... politely refuse. It sounds funny, but it's true. There are projects that I read and felt they were not suitable, or found the script too sketchy, I didn't want to participate but also hesitated to refuse directly because I was afraid of offending.
So I said a fee that made me think that the producer would definitely shake their head. Unexpectedly, one time they really agreed. At that time, I fell into a difficult situation again, because once I accepted, I had to keep my word. I once experienced the feeling of spending dozens of days filming for a movie, but after watching it again, I only felt sorry for my time.
So later I became even more careful. For me, the most important thing is not how much money I get, but whether I think it's worth spending my time.
You know, theater is my main job. I am not a completely freelance actor. I still have theater, and dozens of colleagues behind me. If I receive a long-term film project, it means I have to quit acting, and if I quit acting, the theater must close or change the schedule. So the first thing I consider is always: is this work enough to make me excited or not?
If I really like a script, like a director, or like the spirit of the project, I will easily accept. There are movies I participate in almost because of professional feelings".
The male artist also affirmed that his salary is not up to 1 billion VND as people rumored. He said: "Many people think that long-time artists must put a heavy burden on remuneration. But in fact, the longer I work in the profession, the more I understand that money is not what keeps me staying with art. What keeps me staying is the feeling of making a decent work, meeting people who are serious about the profession and living wholeheartedly with the character. To be honest, my salary is not up to 1 billion VND as people rumored.
And the sentence Quynh Thy (meaning the female lead of the movie Once We Were In Love) said, "Even with billions of VND, you can't invite Thanh Loc" - meaning she talked about being difficult in choosing scripts, choosing my movies, not my salary like that".
