Miles Teller is “not retiring from acting anytime soon” after he cashed out on a drinks brand in a reported $325 million sale.
Actor Miles Teller
The 39-year-old actor had a “minority stake” in The Long Drink Company, and he is now set to pocket a big chunk of cash after the firm’s The Finnish Long Drink, a ready-to-drink canned cocktail beverage, was acquired by the Mark Anthony Group of Companies earlier this week.
Speaking about the payout, Miles refused to say how much he will take home, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “I don’t really talk numbers. I was always taught that’s not in good taste.
“All I’ll say is that I’m not retiring from acting anytime soon.”
However, the Top Gun: Maverick star said the sale, which he regards as “an opportunity to continue to scale”, may influence him to produce and fund films about “underdog stories”.
Miles explained: “I really like chip-on-the-shoulder characters, odds stacked against you – a person or a community. This gives me a lot of confidence to trust my instincts.
“I’ve been producing for the last several years. Certain actors can get movies made on different budgets. If you can say, ‘Hey, I’m attached to this thing, let me find a director, and what actors do we like for this, do I have relationships with them?’
“So, it certainly helps.”
Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds found himself in a similar situation to pal Miles with the buyout of his Aviation American Gin brand to Diageo for up to $610 million in August 2020.
Asked if Ryan, 49, reached out to congratulate Miles on the acquisition, he said: “That first wave of guys with Ryan and Clooney and Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman – it kind of started it all off, where you had a lot of these celebrity copycats come in and say, ‘Oh man, look at this cash grab.’
“But anyone in the industry will tell you that’s just not how it goes. If you do the research on the celebrity brands, a lot of times it doesn’t work out. It’s tough to build a business, in general.
“I can tell you, I’ve had a lot of texts from various friends and people who have built companies and had companies fail, and they said, ‘Miles, this is a huge, huge win. It doesn’t happen very often, it’s extremely rare.’
“I’m sure it’s less than one per cent of people who start companies who end up selling it for any kind of profit. It feels good because it was a new arena for me and I’m really proud of it.”
The Fantastic Four cast member added: “I’m very excited for our founders. How cool for them to come from a country where they don’t export a lot of things on the global stage.
“But this drink – their national beverage – for them to bring this product here that they believed in and to scale it and grow it organically, it’s the true American dream.”
