“We have to be willing to walk away” must be Wahlberg’s agent’s mantra at the negotiating table
Christopher Plummer was cast to play billionaire J. Paul Getty and reshoots scheduled, according to Scott,
“they all came in free.“
But three people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it told USA TODAY, Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for his trouble in All the Money in the World, while co-star Michelle Williams got $80 a day in the end totaling less than $1,000.
The kidnapping drama was hastily reshot the week of Thanksgiving as Scott transfixed Hollywood by quickly assembling his actors in Europe, reshooting all of Spacey’s scenes with Plummer — and STILL making his Christmas release window.
This new information though, reveals ugly math and misogyny in how actors were compensated. The reshoot cost $10 million and in December, Scott told USA Today,
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.”
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.“
But Wahlberg’s team actually negotiated a hefty fee, with the actor paid $1.5 million for his reshoots. Williams was not told. Ironically, both Wahlberg and Williams are represented by the William Morris agency’s Endeavor.
This year, Forbes named Wahlberg the highest-paid actor, calculating his pretax and pre-fee earnings at $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.”
All the Money in the World has not made all the money in the world at the box office though, coming in 10th place this last week and grossing just $20 million since its release two weeks ago.
The pay disparity arrives as the entertainment industry continues to be rocked by a flood of sexual misconduct allegations against dozens of other powerful Hollywood figures and a rising #MeToo movement. 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 the film, was one of them and she got less than 1% of her male co-star for those reshoots.
The system is still needs some work, it seems.
(via USA Today)
