Yesterday, USA Today revealed that Michelle Williams earned $80 per day — less than $1,000 total — for reshooting her scenes in All the Money in the World. Her co-star Mark Wahlberg received $1.5 million. USA Today notes that Williams wasn’t told about the pay disparity.
All the Money in the World originally starred Kevin Spacey and was recast with Christopher Plummer as the lead in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey. Reshoots reportedly took nine days and cost a total of $10 million. In an earlier interview with USA Today, director Ridley Scott attributed the relatively low cost to the fact that “everyone did it for nothing.”
Per that earlier interview:
RIDLEY SCOTT: “The whole reshoot was — in normal terms was expensive but not as expensive as you think. Because all of them, everyone did it for nothing.”
USA TODAY: “Really?”
SCOTT: “No, I wouldn’t get paid, I refused to get paid.”
USA TODAY: “You didn’t pay the actors more to do it?”
SCOTT: “No, they all came in free. Christopher had to get paid. But Michelle, no. Me, no. I wouldn’t do that to — ”
USA TODAY: “The crew, of course, did get paid?”
SCOTT: “Of course.”
Prior to the most recent reports, Williams said that she’d agreed to do whatever was necessary to complete the film.
“I said 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.”
BuzzFeed notes that Williams’ salary for reshoots amounts to less than 0.1 percent of Wahlberg’s. Both actors are represented by William Morris Endeavor agency, although likely with different agents. Sources told BuzzFeed that Wahlberg wasn’t asked to work for free or told that Williams would be working for an $80 per diem.
For more on the gender pay gap, read PayScale’s report, “What Is the Gender Pay Gap?“
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Folks are making this a bigger deal than it truly is. The optics looks bad. But the reality is… 1. Mark Wahlberg’s a much bigger star than Michelle Williams. 2. Mark Wahlberg DEMANDED for that money, meaning that he negotiated for it. It’s not his fault if Williams didn’t, nor do I blame producers for bringing up the topic to Williams. Welcome to business, where employers want to pay as little as possible, while employees should learn how to negotiate… Read more »