Chris Pine realizes how far he’s come.
Pine, 43, is Willie Geist’s guest for his Sunday Sitdown on the Sunday, May 5, episode of Today, and a preview clip shows the actor talking about his first major role as Nicholas Deveraux in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. He told Geist that the role paid him just $65,000, but it felt like so much more.
“It was the height of summer and I was getting off at Magnolia. I was on my little Verizon tiny little flip phone, my silver one, and I got a call from my agents that I booked the job,” he said. “I pulled over onto the side of the freeway and they said, ‘You’re getting paid $65,000.’ And it was like they had just told me I’d made $50 million. It was absolutely earth-shattering.”
The 2004 film wasn’t Pine’s first acting job, but it kick-started his career just out of college. In the sequel to Anne Hathaway’s 2001 movie The Princess Diaries, Pine plays one of Hathaway’s suitors.
“I got that $65,000 and I just remember distinctly knowing in that moment that my life had changed somehow, even though $60,000 at the end of the day turned out to be about $15,000,” he said.
And like it is for most people, that first paycheck didn’t last Pine long. He says he owed his parents rent money at the time and was already overdrawn by $400 on his bank account.
“That is a wild feeling. I’ll never forget that,” he concluded.
Things have probably gotten easier for Pine over the past 20 years. He has since appeared as Captain Kirk in three Star Trek movies and as Steve Trevor in a pair of Wonder Woman films, among dozens of other film and TV credits. Despite all that success, Pine said he would be open to reprising his role as Nicholas.
“Yeah, I’m here! I’m here for it,” he told Entertainment Tonight amid reports of a potential third movie. “Give me a phone call or an email.”
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A third film has not been officially announced, but Pine and Hathaway’s costar Julie Andrews said she’d be willing to return to her role as well, cautioning that she did not expect it to happen.
“It’s quite a long time now since the two Diaries were done, and I’m not sure, but sometimes it’s best to leave a good thing alone,” Andrews, 88, told Today.
Geist’s full interview with Pine will air Sunday morning on NBC.
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