Jon Voight reveals he was paid 'minimum' for Midnight Cowboy role, Actor says he was even charged for meals during filming of breakout performance in John Schlesinger's 1969 classic Jon Voight has revealed that the paycheque he received for his breakout role in Midnight Cowboy was almost as paltry as the meagre sums earned by the hapless Texan gigolo Joe Buck in John Schlesinger's classic 60s film.
Voight's Hollywood career took off following his portrayal of Buck, a naive young male prostitute trying to make his way in cruel late-60s New York. The Oscar-winning star of 1978's Vietnam-themed drama Coming Home said he knew from the minute he read Waldo Salt's Oscar-winning screenplay that the film would make him famous.
"I knew what it meant," said Voight during promotional interviews for new movie Getaway and TV series Ray Donovan. "It was going to give me a career, and I was right."
The 74-year-old actor said he told his agent: "Tell them I'll do this part for nothing." To his surprise, "they took me at my word, and they gave me minimum for Midnight Cowboy". Voight said studio United Artists was so determined to save money that he later received a $14.73 charge for meals on his last day of shooting.
Schlesinger's 1969 counterculture classic sees Buck's increasingly desperate gigolo swapping dreams of the Park Avenue high life for a penniless existence in a freezing squat he shares with fellow down-and-out Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Voight revealed he also played a part in bringing his co-star on board after the two became friends while starring in an off-Broadway show.
Midnight Cowboy went on to pick up three Oscars, including best film and best director for Schlesinger, at the 1970 Academy Awards. Voight and Hoffman were both nominated for acting Oscars for their work on the movie.
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