Woody Allen joke from the early ’60s, passed along by regional “friendo”: “I received an offer from a vodka company to be a spokesperson…to shoot some TV ads. So one of their reps called and I said, ‘First of all, I don’t do TV ads, and I don’t drink so I can’t be much of a vodka salesman, and if I did drink vodka I probably wouldn’t drink your brand so I can’t see this happening.’ And the vodka guy said, ‘Well, that’s too bad because we were going to offer you a $500 thousand fee.’ And Allen said, ‘Uhhm, hold on…let me put Mr. Allen on the phone.'”

Every industry name whores out at one time or another. Some more than others (Michael Caine in The Swarm and Jaws 4) but they all mostly do it. Ryan Gosling held his nose and cashed the paycheck for The Gray Man, and in the bargain enjoyed all kinds of exotic travel. One of the reasons that Brad Pitt is allegedly worth $300 million is because he occasionally stars in films like Bullet Train, for which he was allegedly paid $30 million.

Except for Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s been a wealthy, marquee-brand actor for 29 years, and has never once starred in a piece of Bullet Train or Gray Man-level schlock. This Boy’s Life, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries, Total Eclipse, Marvin’s Room, Titanic, The Man in the Iron Mask, Celebrity, The Beach, Don’s Plum, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Body of Lies, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, Inception, J. Edgar, Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Don’t Look Up, Killers of the Flower Moon…26 respectable films, some more commercial or less arty than others but no franchise flicks and none aimed at the jizz-whizz action or gamer or Marvel crowd.