NBC didn't want any problems from its star actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who is know for his past drinking issues, so the network created a financial solution that would help keep the actor from straying.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, sources have said that NBC withheld a large chunk of the troubled actor's salary until all 10 episodes of Dracula had been filmed over the summer.
The actor had to wait on about $100,000 per episode until shooting was finished, living instead off per diem payments. NBC decline to comment, but a source close to the Irish actor said, "Jonathan's in a really good place, and he's healthy."
NBC used the same payment system with Alec Baldwin during 30 Rock's seven seasons, as the actor had a habit of saying things that made people wonder if he was going to leave the show.
Meyers talked with the Irish Mirror about his drinking issues. In the past, he's had issues at two different airports over being too drunk.
"I was wild, I was as wild as you can get," Meyers said. "When you are on the front of newspapers for stupidity, getting drunk at airports, fighting with cops and stuff like that, you wake up the next day and you can hardly f**king remember it. Responsibility gets diminished."
The 36-year-old said that he realized he needed to get help, not a new idea as he has checked into rehab six times, but eventually said enough was enough. "As you get older you see the stupid things you have done. It is not the consequences for yourself but your family get hurt, your friends get hurt."
The actor talked with friends and realized things had gone too far. He added, "Now I don't do nothing. Once you make the decision you have had enough of something, the decision is made you have had enough..."
image: NBC