Pay gaps between women and men in every industry is a huge problem — but in Hollywood the gaps can get HUGE.
We’ve all heard the story of Michelle Williams learning she got a THOUSAND times less than Mark Wahlberg for reshoots on All The Money In The World. It turns out one of the biggest franchises of the past decade had a similar issue.
In an interview with Insider on Monday, Bryce Dallas Howard addressed 2018 reports that she made $2 million less than co-star Chris Pratt for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the second film in the trilogy. Variety said Chris got $10 million — while his female lead got only $8 mil.
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The truth? It was way worse than that. Way worse. Bryce admitted:
“The reports were so interesting because I was paid so much less than the reports even said, so much less.”
WTF?! She had just as big a part in the first film, which broke box office records! Why would they offer her less? Well, the deals were made for the films before the first one was even made. Bryce explained:
“When I started negotiating for Jurassic, it was 2014, and it was a different world, and I was at a great disadvantage. And, unfortunately, you have to sign up for three movies, and so your deals are set.”
Chris, on the other hand, was the lead in Guardians of the Galaxy. It seems ridiculous in retrospect, but at the time no one expected a movie with a talking raccoon and tree guy to work — but far from being Marvel‘s first flop, it was one of their biggest hits! And Chris’ star-making performance was credited with a lot of the success. So he had a big advantage going in.
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He found out later about the disparity, too late to renegotiate their previous contracts. However, when the movie was a huge hit, there was room to negotiate new deals for theme park appearances and video game likeness rights. And Chris was right there with her making sure they got treated equally. She recalled:
“What I will say is that Chris and I have discussed it, and whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn’t been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he literally told me: ‘You guys don’t even have to do anything. I’m gonna do all the negotiating. We’re gonna be paid the same, and you don’t have to think about this, Bryce.’”
Wow! Good for him! And that must have been before this latest round of pay equity controversy, too. No wonder Pratt’s co-stars and directors are always defending him — even while the internet consistently trashes him.
Bryce praised her male lead, saying:
“And I love him so much for doing that. I really do, because I’ve been paid more for those kinds of things than I ever was for the movie.”
Damn! How bad was her deal?!
[Image via Universal/YouTube.]
