Seann William Scott was only paid $8,000 for playing Stifler in American Pie

Earlier this month (9 July), marked 24 years since American Pie was released in theaters in the U.S. - which would later go on to be a franchise that changed comedy as we know it forever.

The flick, which is still a cult classic after more than two decades, can attribute a lot of its success to one particular character who has gone down in cinematic history - Steve Stifler.

However, many were shocked to find out that Seann William Scott, the actor behind the legendary character, was only paid $8,000 for the American Pie role.

Universal Pictures

Whether it was his side-splitting one-liners, razor-sharp wit or just an incredibly dodgy sense of humour - many fans of the franchise can agree Stifler pretty much carried the whole thing.

So, it makes it somewhat hard to believe just how little Scott received for the gig.

The 46-year-old star opened up about his pay for the first film during a game of Celebrity True or False on The Rich Eisen Show.

During his interview on the show, Scott confirmed that his debut as Stifler earned him just $8,000 (£6,700).

"I think [that's right], yeah because I remember afterwards I bought a used Thunderbird, for like $5,000 (£4,200), maybe $6,000 (£5,040)," he said, before admitting: "I don't know what happened to the other two grand."

While he admitted the pay was 'a lot of money at the time' for him, he made it clear it didn't last long.

Scott went on to reveal the money dwindled fairly quickly as, after wrapping up the 1999 comedy classic, he went to work as a 'churro guy' at the LA Zoo to continue bringing in money as he waited for the film to come out.

He added: "Maybe it was even less than $8,000."

American Pie later went on to become the blockbuster smash hit we all know it for after raking in a whopping $235.4 million (£196.9m) worldwide.

A number of spin-offs were subsequently added to the franchise including American Pie 2, American Wedding and American Reunion.

Universal Pictures

Speaking on the YouTube show Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, Scott opened up about the possible future of Steve Stifler.

"You know what? I love that character," he began.

Scott explained that after the last film, which was released in 2012, he felt it was a 'great bookend' to the character.

"I didn't think it'd be fun to play the character again," he continued.

However, 'as time went on' and 'as the world has changed', Scott seemed to have a change of heart, adding that he 'thought that seeing that character today could be really interesting'.

That's for sure.