Mission: Impossible star paid millions for 39-second cameo and fans know exactly why

A star in Mission: Impossible made a record-breaking cameo, with fans saying he may be the "highest-paid actor for smallest amount of screen time" thanks to the role. The final instalment of the action-packed franchise, The Final Reckoning, will conclude the action-packed series later this year, and fans will bid goodbye to cast members including , Jeremy Renner, , and Kristin Scott Thomas.

But it's one astonishingly brief appearance at the end of the fourth movie, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which has sparked debate in Hollywood circles. Their 39 seconds on the silver screen earned this actor a hefty paycheck, packing two days' work into one of cinema's most lucrative per-second rates. Fans believe this makes up for the lack of cash he was paid in the first film.

A viral post on Reddit's r/TodayILearned subreddit reads: " earned $7.7million for roughly 39 seconds of screen time in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), which makes him the highest-paid actor for the smallest amount of screen time. He had just two days of work on set."

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Playing Luther Stickell in the famed saga, Rhames' fleeting cameo in the fourth film sent waves of excitement through fans, garnering heaps of admiration for his performances across the series.

Echoing fan sentiments, one commentator wrote: "It makes up for the fact that he got paid basically peanuts for the first M:I movies. Tom Cruise got the big bucks for the first one, and with its limited budget (75M?), there wasn't a whole lot left for the other actors.

"With Tom Cruise doing his own stunts, by the time Ghost Protocol came out, there was no guarantee the movie was going to get finished (if Tom got hurt doing a stunt) -PLUS- no guarantee of future movies (if Tom got hurt doing a stunt) meant if Ving was going to do Ghost Protocol, he needed to be sure that he got the money now."

Other fans have highlighted that another enjoyed a hefty payday for a film he did not even appear in in a separate franchise. One fan remembered: "Jack Nicholson got paid for Batman Returns, a film he wasn't even in. He got a 'pay or play deal' in case they wanted the Joker to return for the sequel."

Another fan noted that the Batman films also gave a lucrative payday to another actor too, after they opted for a different star in the third film.

They commented: "Billy Dee Williams also got a huge payday from the 1989 Batman when he played Harvey Dent in a few scenes. He was promised the role of Two Face later on and when they recast it he got paid the same as Tommy Lee Jones."

Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey would serve as the villainous duo in the third Batman film, with both Nicholson and Williams left out of future screen adaptations.

Confirmation of Rhames' lucrative payday comes from The Guardian, who reported: "Ving Rhames is rewarded handsomely for his dedication to the blockbuster franchise.

"He made only a fleeting appearance in 2011's fourth instalment, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, but still managed to reportedly snag $7.7m for simply showing up for a couple of days."