You might assume that every movie role leads to a massive payday, but sometimes established actors willingly take lower salaries (whether in general, when compared to their typical rates, or when compared to what their costars make) for the opportunity to be part of a project they believe in.

Here are 17 actors who took surprisingly low salaries for their roles:

1. In 2005, told the that Good Night, and Good Luck was "ultimately a love letter to [his] old man." He used his "enviable position of being able to force studios to make films that they wouldn’t ordinarily make" to get the movie into production, and he financed it himself. He said, "I got a dollar for writing the script. I had to endorse my check for directing and turn in my acting salary. Grant [Heslov, co-writer, actor, and producer ] and I each made a buck for doing it."

George Clooney