Hollywood pay gap: Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams co-starred in Ridley Scott film but he got paid 1,500 times as much to reshoot scenes
The film, All the Money in the World, was hastily reshot the week of Thanksgiving after a cascade of sexual misconduct allegations were made public against Kevin Spacey
Mark Wahlberg was paid US$1.5 million for reshooting his scenes in All the Money in the World, according to three people familiar with the situation but not authorised to speak publicly about it, while Michelle Williams was paid an US$80 per diem totalling less than US$1,000.
That works out to Williams being paid less than one-tenth of 1 per cent 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, a relative triumph. But new information revealed the ugly maths behind the Hollywood victory. The reshoot cost US$10 million (a fee put up by producing arm Imperative). In December, Scott told USA Today the undertaking was aided by the fact that “everyone did it for nothing”.
The whole reshoot was ... not as expensive as you think. Because all of them, everyone did it for nothing
The exchange went as follows:
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. “
Wahlberg’s team actually negotiated a hefty fee, with the actor paid US$1.5 million for his reshoots. Williams wasn’t told.
Wahlberg and Williams are both represented by the William Morris Endeavor agency. Actors pay a team of agents, managers and lawyers an average of 10 per cent of their salaries to advocate for them.
In August, Forbes magazine named Wahlberg the highest-paid actor of the year, calculating his pre-tax and pre-fee earnings at US$68 million. The Washington Post first reported Wahlberg’s reshoot fee, noting that the actor “along with manager Stephen Levinson and agency WME, have a reputation in Hollywood for driving a tough bargain”.
Williams previously told USA Today that when Scott’s team called to request her time for the reshoot, “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.”
All the Money in the World has lagged at the box office, this past weekend coming in 10th place. The drama has grossed US$20.2 million since its release two weeks ago.
The entertainment industry continues to be rocked by the downfall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, a flood of sexual misconduct allegations against dozens of other powerful Hollywood figures and a rising #MeToo movement.
Two days ago at the Golden Globes, male and female stars wore black in solidarity with the newly established Time’s Up initiative, which pushes for protection for victims of sexual harassment and gender equality.
Williams, Globe-nominated for her role in All the Money in the World, was one of them.
