As women in Hollywood are declaring #TimesUp on gender inequality, the industry was given a sharp reminder of how far it has to come on Tuesday night.
USA Today broke the news that the four-time Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams was paid a miniscule fraction of the payday her All the Money in the World co-star Mark Wahlberg received when filmmaker Ridley Scott decided to reshoot all of accused sexual predator Kevin Spacey’s scenes with replacement Christopher Plummer.
While Wahlberg reportedly received $1.5 million for his supporting turn, the film’s lead Williams—who received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance—got nothing more than her $80 per diem, totaling less than $1,000. To add insult to injury, director Scott claimed last month that both actors reshot their scenes for free. “Everyone did it for nothing,” he said.
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Furthermore, both Wahlberg and Williams are represented by the same Hollywood talent agency, William Morris Endeavor. So the same agency negotiated minuscule compensation for Williams and a hefty payday for Wahlberg—who just so happens to be good pals with the head of WME, Ari Emanuel, who served as the inspiration for the Entourage character Ari Gold.
The reaction from Williams’ fellow Hollywood actresses was swift and defiant, with her fellow Golden Globes nominee Jessica Chastain leading the charge:
Others followed Chastain’s lead, letting WME know that the discrepancy was “unacceptable”:
As USA Today reported, when Scott first contacted Williams—who brought #MeToo founder Tarana Burke as her Golden Globes date this past weekend—about the unprecedented reshoots, she told him, “I’d be wherever they needed me, whenever they needed me. And they could have my salary, they could have my holiday, whatever they wanted. Because I appreciated so much that they were making this massive effort.”
Apparently, Wahlberg didn’t feel the same way.
