Life & Wisdom Quote by Michael Lewis

The line lands like a scalpel aimed at Hollywood's favorite superstition: that star power is a form of insurance you can buy. Lewis isn't just balking at the number; he's mocking the logic behind it. "They think they have to do it" is doing the real work here, reframing the $20 million not as compensation but as a panic purchase - a premium paid by executives terrified of being blamed if the movie fails. It's not reverence for craft; it's corporate risk management dressed up as glamour.

Lewis's subtext is classic market skepticism with a moral edge. In his view, pricing yourself as "irreplaceable" isn't confidence, it's a power play that exploits an institution already prone to magical thinking. The kicker - "then he better find somewhere else to work" - reads like a hard-nosed CEO ultimatum, but it's also a jab at the ecosystem that creates these salaries in the first place: a hierarchy where a handful of names are treated as the product, while the labor beneath them is interchangeable.

Contextually, this fits Lewis's broader obsession with incentives and delusion - the same lens he uses on Wall Street, sports, and politics. He’s arguing that irrational pricing isn't an accident; it's a symptom of decision-makers optimizing for cover-your-ass safety rather than truth. The wit is that he pretends it's about Ford, but the real target is the executive class buying status and absolution at blockbuster rates.