Terrance Howard Talks about Hustle and Flow: The lack of the money flowing

Terrence Howard may be on the precipice of superstardom, but critical acclaim for actors, unfortunately, does not always translate into instant millions.
“I only made $12,000 on ‘Hustle & Flow,’” he tells the Hollywood Reporter. “I made $9,000 on ‘Crash.’”
In both of those projects, all of the actors agreed to take lower paychecks to ensure the films would be made. And the sacrifices paid off. The two 2005 films earned a heap of praise, and Howard has gotten a fair amount of awards and nominations for the two roles from critics groups around the country, which puts him in the financial driver’s seat for future films.
This sudden reality seemed completely out of reach for the Chicago native eight years ago. After a steady diet of supporting roles in such films as “Dead Presidents,” “Sunset Park” and “Who’s The Man?” throughout the early-to-mid-‘90s, he gave up on the Hollywood hustle in 1997 and took a carpet cleaning gig in Philadelphia for $7.50 an hour. But the 36-year-old quickly returned with a vengeance, with memorable roles in “The Player’s Club,” “The Best Man” and “Hart’s War.”
Since 2004, Howard has been in five box office hits (“Ray,” “Crash,,” “Hustle & Flow,” “Four Brothers,” “Get Rich or Die Tryin’”) and two television movies that received Emmy attention (ABC’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and HBO’s “Lackawanna Blues”).
With plum roles in “Animal” opposite Ving Rhames, the OutKast musical “Idlewild” and the anesthetic awareness film “Awake” on the horizon, Howard says he’s Grateful for the long overdue props and hopes this killer wave of acclaim will allow him to take care of the people close to him – like his father, who spent time in prison after being convicted of manslaughter.
Howard said: “My father said to me in tears, 'I am so sorry to put this on you, son, but you are my retirement plan.’”