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Michelle Williams Is The Latest Victim of Hollywood’s Wage Gap

For her reshoots on ‘All The Money in the World,’ Michelle Williams’ earnings paled in comparison to that of Mark Wahlberg.
All The Money In The World
By  · Published on January 10th, 2018

For her reshoots on ‘All The Money in the World,’ Michelle Williams’ earnings paled in comparison to that of Mark Wahlberg.

It was absolutely vital that All the Money in the World was completed in time for December release. Not only did Sony believe they had a winner on their hands, but there was also competition looming from FX and a new original mini-series. The understanding was that Michelle Willams, Mark Wahlberg, and others graciously came back to the set to complete last-minute reshoots because of the allegations against co-star Kevin Spacey. Christopher Plummer was given the role, but the other principal actors had to come in to shoot additional scenes. Now there is evidence that Wahlberg negotiated for a little more money on the side.

According to the USA Today, Wahlberg and his representatives pushed Sony for an addition $1.8 million for the additional work. The lead actress, Michelle Williams, received $80 per diem or a little under $1,000. Yes, that works out to be less than 1% what her male co-star was paid. Given how quickly everything happened, there probably wasn’t too much negotiation, Sony just needed everything to come together quickly and agreed to the additional fee for Wahlberg. This is in conflict with what director Ridley Scott knew the understanding to be when he spoke to USA Today earlier. In response to whether or not he got paid a hefty sum for the reshoots, Scott replied “No, they all came in free. Christopher had to get paid. But Michelle, no. Me, no…”

What makes the situation even worse is that both actors are represented by the same agency, William Morris Endeavor agency. They knew that this was going down, but failed to inform Williams of the deal. Given the current movement in Hollywood to make a safe and equal working environment for women, this just reeks of bad form from Sony and the agency involved. The internet is not too happy over this recent development either.

https://twitter.com/ira/status/950944120767373312

The only thing to do in this situation is sending Williams a check for the same amount Wahlberg was given. She is the top-billed star in the movie and this wage gap issue continues to be a serious problem in Hollywood that needs fixing. Given how quickly the reshoots occurred it isn’t all that surprising that something like this happened. Wahlberg and his team took advantage of a studio that needed to move quickly and one that was all too eager to give him the sum he demanded.

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