Seann William Scott Was Only Paid HOW MUCH For 'American Pie'?!

Seann William Scott's first feature film became a comedy landmark. His paycheck for it would not have covered a decent used car, though it did cover most of one.

The number, as Scott confirmed on the show, was $8,000 for American Pie.

"That was a lot of money at the time for me," he said, when Rich pressed on whether the figure was really that low.

What happened to the money is its own short comedy. Scott put most of it toward a used Thunderbird.

"I bought a used Thunderbird for like five grand," he said. "No, I'm sorry, like maybe six. I'm like, 'Oh yeah, baby.'"

That left a couple thousand dollars unaccounted for, and by his own admission he never quite tracked where it went.

"I don't know what happened to the other two grand," Scott said, "because then I had to end up having to work at the LA Zoo as a churro guy."

This was all during the wait. The movie was shot, the Thunderbird was purchased, and while the film sat waiting for its release, Scott picked up odd jobs, the zoo among them.

The zoo did not last.

"I worked there two days and I just felt bad," he said. "I felt bad about the gorilla."

The math of his brief concessions career was not impressive either.

"I sold five churros," Scott said. He had taken the job partly thinking he would get to see the animals. Instead he was stationed at a cart. "I was the churro guy."

It is a tidy little origin story. A future comedy star, one breakout role already in the can, selling churros to zoo visitors and feeling guilty around the primate enclosure, with no idea that the movie sitting on a shelf was about to change everything. The Thunderbird, at least, he got to keep.