American Pie's Shannon Elizabeth reveals shockingly low salary she was paid for first film

American Pie star, Shannon Elizabeth, revealed that she fought for a much better pay deal on the sequel after not making much from her appearance in the first movie.

The original movie first released 24 years ago and became a huge hit at the box office, inevitably resulting in a few sequels to keep riding that wave of popularity.

However, some of the cast didn't get much money for their appearances in the first movie, and considering what a huge hit American Pie turned out to be, the amount the actors got paid seems quite low.

Let's just say that the movies themselves were of their time, with newer audiences getting the chance to see it for themselves being less than impressed with what they watched.

Modern teens watching American Pie found it to be 'incredibly problematic', and to make matters worse, the stars didn't even get paid all that much for their efforts, with Shannon Elizabeth telling Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum 'she fought for much better pay the second time around'.

Universal Pictures

When asked if she'd ever come to the cusp of walking away from the sequel, Elizabeth admitted that she had.

"For the second one? Many times. I walked away from a lot of offers. My lawyer and my manager and agent, they all thought I was crazy and I kept saying no. They were pushing me to say yes and I was like uh-uh.

"I just kept saying no, they would bring me things, I was like uh-uh. I don't know why, I guess I had a number in my head I knew they should pay. I got them to that number and my team was very excited I said no all the other times.

"I didn't get paid on the first one hardly, I think it was something like a couple of thousand. It wasn't a lot, it was nothing.

"You know you get like 15 minutes, you've got to milk it. I think every actor as soon as they're done with a role if they don't have another one lined up they think, 'that's it, I'm never gonna book another role.'

"I would always have this anxiety when I would wrap a movie if I didn't have something else booked like 'I'm never gonna work again', you kind of freak out. It's part of being an actor, all my friends said they had that feeling."

Universal Pictures

Elizabeth wasn't the only American Pie cast member to get a pretty puny paycheck from their appearance in the movie. Sean William Scott who played Stifler in the franchise, said he got just $8,000 for being one of the main characters.

The movie was made with an $11 million budget, but since it raked in over $235 million, the cast were able to score better deals for the sequel a couple of years later, with that budget jumping up to $30 million.

Scott said he was paid more for the sequels, and that when he was younger he thought the $8,000 fee was a lot of money before he ended up selling food at a zoo.

A reboot of the American Pie movies is in the works from writer Sujata Day, and it's meant to be offering a 'fresh take' on the franchise.