Gender wage gap is a fact, not only in the film industry but in every job. Regarding the cinema, the latest example of inequality is Ridley Scott’s movie, All the Money In the World. According to a USA Today report, Mark Wahlberg received an additional $1.5 million for reshoots.
After the allegations against Kevin Spacey, Scott had to replace him with Christopher Plummer for the role of billionaire J. Paul Getty. New scenes had to be done and some of the main stars had to return to the set. For these additional scenes, Mark Wahlberg paid $1.5 million and Michelle Williams $1,000.
This illustrates clearly the gender inequality in Hollywood.
Jessica Chastain tweeted, “Please go see Michelle’s performance in All the Money in the World. She’s a brilliant Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning actress. She has been in the industry for 20 years. She deserves more than 1% of her male costar’s salary.”
According to the report, when the director decided to reshoot, he needed both Williams and Wahlberg. The first plays the mother of the kidnap victim and the second a former CIA operative who helps her to find her son. Scott and his team moved quickly in order to catch the film’s scheduled release. Williams, not only agreed to return to the set, but she did not make any additional salary request, while Wahlberg demanded further pay-check.
Of course, Wahlberg is not to be blamed here, he is a professional actor and he did his job. However, if the studio decides to pay an additional amount for reshooting, it is self-explanatory that both the main actors must be paid equally.
More and more in Hollywood realize that there is a problematic situation in the industry.
It is not only the unequal salaries but more importantly the role of women in the industry. Probably, men like Harvey Weinstein believe that women are not equal to men, especially in higher positions. Everyone now hopes that the time is up and from now on women will be treated equally with men.
It is worth watching again Oprah’s speech at the Golden Globes because she underlines the injustice in Hollywood and made clear that the time is up for the predators and the inequality.
Moreover, in four days her speech has more than 7 million views on YouTube which proves the importance of her words and the need for action.
Hollywood gender pay gap revealed
In August, Forbes revealed the highest paid stars. The highest paid actress in 2017 was Emma Stone with $26 million, however, she was 15th in the overall table. This indicates the pay gap between actors and actresses. Wahlberg was the highest paid actor with $68 million earnings, followed by Dwayne Johnson with $65 million. The list goes on with names such as Vin Diesel, Adam Sandler, Jackie Chan, Robert Downey Jr, and Tom Cruise.
Forbes’s list shows the 30 highest paid start in Hollywood and Bollywood. In this list, only ten women can be found.
Emma Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence, Melissa McCarthy and Mila Kunis were the highest paid actresses in 2017.
Here are some actresses who raised the problem and are fighting for equality;