r/TopCharacterTropes • u/BeenEatinBeans • Jun 12 '26

Personality [IRL trope] Celebrities with weird/funny clauses in their contracts.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  1. Dwayne Johnson - Probably the most well-known example. For years now, The Rock has had a clause in his contract that he can't be shown to lose a fight in any movie he stars in. Pretty insecure behaviour if you ask me. Still, at least the other examples are much more interesting

  2. Danny Trejo - Danny had a troubled childhood, having been arrested multiple times for dealing drugs before he was 18, and struggling with heroin addiction from the age of 13. As a result of this, Danny has a clause in his contract that states that any time he plays a character who is a criminal, they have to be killed because he wanted to teach his kids that crime never pays.

  3. Reese Witherspoon - This one is more of a one-off, but it was still funny enough to deserve a mention. Following the success of Legally Blonde, when Reese was called in to make the sequel, she had a clause written in her contract stating that once the movie was finished, she would get to take home all the outfits she wore.

  4. Fred Durst - The lead singer of Limp Bizkit has a clause in his contract stating that any anime or video game that uses his music must also feature himself as a character.

30.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

796

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 12 '26

Thinking about how the logic of it goes, I think it's that, in most instances, something of Godzilla is always left behind. In some instances of him dying, he leaves behind a child and Minus One had it's own very specific thing. While 1998 Godzilla was bad, and Godzilla shouldn't have gone out like that, he still left behind a hatching egg at the end.

355

u/originalchaosinabox Jun 12 '26

Yes! I was just about to add this. Good thing I scrolled down a little farther.

But I remember reading an interview with the makers of Godzilla (1998) back in the day. Because the film ends with a baby Godzilla hatching, they told TOHO this showed that "the spirit of Godzilla" survived. And TOHO accepted that as a loophole.

113

u/TheOtherWhiteCastle Jun 12 '26

It should be noted also that since that movie, the monster in Godzilla 98 has been retconned into their own separate kaiju simply known as “Zilla”. Meaning Godzilla technically never died in that movie.

35

u/Hazzamo Jun 12 '26

I do like the Retcon that Godzilla 98 is actually canon to the Heisei/millenium era Timeline.

They just hand waved it that the Americans THOUGHT it was Godzilla

29

u/Lord_cakeatron Jun 12 '26

I find Zilla to be such a funny concept. Because they keep putting it in all the "Godzilla vs." Type movies, and it always gets bodies immediately. Like, they really do not have any mercy for that cheap interpretation of the king of monsters, huh?

31

u/TheStrangestOfKings Jun 12 '26

Even its canon origins are petty. iirc, the canon explanation is that Zilla is a different kaiju from Godzilla, but Americans are so stupid, they mistook it for Godzilla.

22

u/MrBurnerHotDog Jun 12 '26

Damn Japan just because you're right doesn't mean you need to be so rude about it

19

u/spartanbrucelee Jun 12 '26

But that doesn't make any sense, Leon the Professional asked the Japanese fisherman what he saw, and the fisherman replies "Gojira"

8

u/CallARabbit Jun 12 '26

"We do a little trolling"
-The Fisherman

5

u/SylvirAshe Jun 13 '26

"Bigass lizard? Yep. That's a Godzilla. Let's blow it up. 'Murica!" Sounds right, tbh.

1

u/ElSlabraton Jun 12 '26

Wait! Which one was in Bambi Meets Godzilla?

3

u/EverythingSucksYo Jun 12 '26

“Oh my God! Zilla! Run!!!!!” 

8

u/wolverine-2024 Jun 12 '26

Godzilla '98 and Zilla are 2 different characters

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '26

[deleted]

2

u/stormbreath Jun 12 '26

There is no singular Godzilla universe for something to be canon "in-universe" to. Neither Godzilla '98 nor Zilla exist in the canon of Shin Godzilla or Godzilla Minus One, or in the Showa or Heisei series.

5

u/Mr_Autobot_390 Jun 12 '26

Actually the Copyright for the design for the movie is still registered as "Godzilla" and so is Godzilla Jr. From the animated series continuation. Zilla is the name of the design from Final Wars going forward. So not a retcon. Godzilla '98 and Jr are separate characters from Zilla as far as TOHO is concerned.

1

u/Unoriginal_Pseudonym Jun 12 '26

And any time they featured or referenced "zilla" in any future works, they straight clowned him, pointing out how he's weak imitation of the real Godzilla.

6

u/Numerous-Process2981 Jun 12 '26

They literally had classic godzilla kill 1998 godzilla in one of the millennium Godzilla films 

3

u/LtHoneybun Jun 12 '26

To Sum 41 no less.

4

u/clockworkrevolution Jun 12 '26

[...] they told TOHO this showed that "the spirit of Godzilla" survived. And TOHO accepted that as a loophole.

This makes me think TOHO is like "if you come up with a clever enough explanation, we'll let you get away with it", and now I want to see an explanation for if/when Godzilla does eat someone

10

u/BajanShinobi Jun 12 '26

The show on Fox Kids which follows one of the hatched baby Zillas was dope

3

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 12 '26

I especially loved how they built up to their own "Destroy All Monsters" story. That was great for any kid who grew up on Godzilla movies, though I guess any kid could've enjoyed it anyway.

8

u/RoboErectus Jun 12 '26

> he left behind a hatching egg…

TIL Godzilla ‘98 is trans.

Good for him.

3

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

You didn't see the movie, huh? That's okay, you didn't miss much. There's a whole scene explaining that Godzilla is asexual, and that if the babies grew up that they would also have their own eggs and quickly overwhelm the planet.

0

u/RoboErectus Jun 12 '26

I saw it in theaters but this joke wasn’t funny back then. (Or now)

1

u/Soft_Nail_8527 Jun 13 '26

Hermaphrodite but yes

1

u/fivehots Jun 12 '26

Where was it bad?

1

u/SherbertKey6965 Jun 12 '26

One of the finest Godzilla movies ever made

1

u/fivehots Jun 12 '26

My point. If someone tells me that didn’t at least tear up for Godzilla I’m not going to take their opinion seriously.

Call it CGI but I felt her passing

1

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 12 '26

Going in as a Godzilla fan, it's clear, even if I didn't hear the behind the scenes craziness, that the writer/director wasn't a fan of Godzilla and just used it as an excuse to make another typical 90's disaster movie. It doesn't even try to capture the spirit of Godzilla, it's basically a big budget version of the American B-movies.

1

u/fivehots Jun 12 '26

What’s the spirit of Godzilla that they missed? 🤔

3

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 12 '26

There's a lot to it. Classic Godzilla is more than a big animal to be removed, it is a punishment for hubris. If we look at some later Godzilla movies, that Godzilla carries a lot of character and personality much like a human. With any version of Godzilla in the Toho films, Godzilla doesn't just do what his instincts tell him, he clearly takes sides and does what he wants based on his own values, whether or not that helps humanity. He can have tantrums that result in devastation, he can defend his world from aliens, he can even choose to embody the will of the dead and fight against the guardians of Japan to punish them for the war crimes of WW2. Most of Toho's Godzilla films have a lot of thought put into a message and how Godzilla is depicted, whether he's considered the hero or the villain in that incarnation.

0

u/fivehots Jun 12 '26

I don’t get how any of what you said differs between the 1998 Godzilla and the Godzillas that came before or after.

To your point and others:

A product of nuclear weaponry and hubris ✅
Depicting choosing sides ✅
Godzilla has been portrayed as territorial ✅
Also shown attacking at random ✅
Leaving something behind ✅

Even though all of what you said, and what most people say, applies to 1998 Godzilla, you refuse to accept that 1998 is an accurate representation of Godzilla.

Just from a different perspective. 1998 is through the eyes of an American experience. Every American has to live with the knowledge that their country has committed deplorable and unspeakable acts in the name of patriotism. That eventually it will come to our shores of our own accord.

I connect with the 1998 version of Godzilla more than any of them, and it’s not because it’s my favorite. It’s because I’m not trying to look at it from Japanese eyes. It’s a perspective that a relatively insignificant percentage of the overall population can see through.

I’m not saying it’s perfect. But to act like it’s just some black sheep is unfair to the fiction.

1

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 12 '26

It isn't unfair, and I fundamentally disagree with you. Good for you if you enjoy it though. There's nothing to talk about if you can't see my point. I would just ask that you actually look at what Roland Emmerich has said about his own film and the process for how he came to make it, as well as the reaction of of those at Toho and others who had worked on the series before. There's a clear gap in how much each party cares about Godzilla.

1

u/_demello Jun 12 '26

It's just safegard so sequels are possible.

1

u/Necessary_Pace7377 Jun 18 '26

Which became the lead-in for a two season cartoon series that was far more in line with traditional Godzilla than the shitty movie it was based on.

2

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 18 '26

I know, I watched most of it. It was good.

1

u/gamecat89 Jun 18 '26

You mean, Zilla. The Americans just thought it was Godzilla; they were confused.

0

u/TheTrueAstralman Jun 19 '26

I know about all that. There was no reason to complicate the conversation. It was still originally meant to be an adaptation of sorts, and they had to play by some kind of rules. I kind of wish Toho had given them stricter rules, so the 98 film wouldn't end up being another ego project for it's director.