Ashley Benson Says She Wasn't Paid for 'Spring Breakers'
Ashley Benson says she didn't make any money on one of her favorite films, 2013's "Spring Breakers."
The former "Pretty Little Liars" stars shared this tidbit during an interview with InStyle:
"One [film] that I didn’t get paid for — really, at all — was 'Spring Breakers,' which turned out to be one of my favorite projects I've ever done. In the indie film world, I would rather get paid [next to] nothing to work with someone like Harmony Korine and have an amazing experience and the outcome be an incredible film I’m really proud of."
In the category-defying indie, Benson and friends Vanessa Hudgens and Rachel Korine (the director's wife) cross the line from spring-breaking college students to gun-toting bikini babes in masks with the help of gangster wannabe James Franco. (Disney alum Selena Gomez heads home before the real carnage starts.)
Why didn't she get paid? The film, which was budgeted at $5 million, only made $14 million stateside.
And maybe she needs a new lawyer, since she tells InStyle, "I have a lawyer who [negotiates for me]. I wouldn’t know what to say. I’m very much involved with the whole process, but they do all the wording and negotiating."
But her bank balance seems A-OK, thanks to her real-estate investing and her nearly 19 million Instagram followers, to whom she touts products like SmartyPaws dog supplements.
Those IG plugs means she can turn down roles she isn't interested in: "I kind of steer more into indie films,” she says. “I get to play very different than what people have seen me on 'PLL.' I’d rather just focus on one that makes a big impact.”
She'll be seen next in "Her Smell," which stars Elisabeth Moss as a self-destructive punk rocker.
