Why was Mike Nichols’s first directing fee for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? notable in Hollywood?

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Mike Nichols, wearing a black tuxedo and bow tie, stands smiling at a podium with a star-shaped award in front of him at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards. — Mike Nichols American director Mike Nichols in 2010. He was one of only a few people to have ever earned an EGOT, having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony over the course of his career.

Mike Nichols’s first directing fee for the 1966 film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was notable because it was reported to be $250,000, which was the highest fee a director had ever earned for a debut film at that time.1

The assignment was considered particularly significant in Hollywood because it placed an untried moviemaker in charge of two of the industry's most prominent stars, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Additionally, Nichols was tasked with adapting Edward Albee’s play as a "comic tragedy," a complex genre that required a delicate directorial touch. Despite the pressure, the film was a critical success, earning numerous Academy Award nominations and wins.12