It’s about workby digby
I know it’s hard to feel sorry for any rich, white woman being economically exploited and I don’t. But this is a perfect illustration of the way Hollywood’s system benefits men financially as well as culturally. It tilts the power balance so strongly that it enables this culture of toxic machismo.
Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for reshooting his scenes in All the Money in the World, three people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it tell USA TODAY, while Michelle Williams was paid an $80 per diem totaling less than $1,000.
That works out to Williams being paid less than 1% of her male co-star.
Ridley Scott’s Getty kidnapping drama was hastily reshot the week of Thanksgiving after a cascade of sexual misconduct allegations were made public against Kevin Spacey, who previously starred in the drama as billionaire J. Paul Getty.
Scott transfixed the film world by quickly assembling his actors over the holiday break in Europe, reshooting Spacey’s scenes with Christopher Plummer — and still making his Christmas release window.
The wave of publicity that followed made All the Money in the World, distributed by Sony and financed by Imperative Entertainment, roll into the Sunday’s Golden Globes as a relative triumph.
But new information reveals ugly math behind the Hollywood victory. The reshoot cost $10 million (a fee put up by producing arm Imperative). In December, Scott told USA TODAY that the undertaking was aided by the fact that “everyone did it for nothing.”
And get a load of this:
Wahlberg and Williams are both represented by the William Morris Endeavor agency.
I really hope the #MeToo moment will extend to the pay and opportunities inequities in the workplace at some point. The power imbalance is at the heart of this whole mess.
As Rebecca Traister said in this important piece: This moment isn’t (just) about sex. It’s really about work.
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