'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' narrator was paid for his work in weed instead of money

The narrator of the prologue of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was paid in a fairly unusual way for his services, revealing he accepted marijuana as his compensation instead of money.

The iconic 1974 slasher movie is still a hit with today's audiences as it set the benchmark for what other gory horror flicks should aspire to.

The movie centers around five individuals who run out of gas while traveling through rural Texas and naturally end up in the rundown home of a family of cannibals, and of course the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.

The movie had a low budget of $300,000 as reported by IMDb, so the director Tobe Hooper came up with other ways to pay one of the actors.

In a recent interview with Parade Magazine, John Larroquette responded to the rumor that he had been paid in marijuana for his role as the narrator in the movie.

"Totally true," he said. "He [Hooper] gave me some marijuana or a matchbox or whatever you called it in those days. I walked out of the [recording] studio and patted him on the back side and said, 'Good luck to you!'"

Larroquette went on to become a five-time Emmy award winner, four of which came in consecutive years for his role as Dan Fielding in the 80's sitcom Night Court, per the Emmys.

During the interview, Laroquette revealed that he knew Hooper from 1969 when the director came to Colorado as he was working behind a bar, and the two struck up a friendship.

Fast forward four years and after moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting, Hooper asked a favor of his old friend to come in for an hour and read the narration for the slasher movie.

Since the movie was a hit, it turned into a series where Larroquette was recalled to again be the narrator, and he was even paid with money this time around.

"You do something for free in the 1970s and get a little money in the ‘90s," he said. "It’s certainly the one credit that’s stuck strongly to my resume."

While they may be some of cinema's most iconic films, Larroquette added that he's never actually seen the movies, claiming that he isn't a big fan of horror.

Considering the career Larroquette went on to have, Hooper sure snagged him for not a very high price... Or he did, depending on how you look at it.

Featured image credit: Courtesy Everett Collection / Alamy