Michelle Williams Was Reportedly Paid Less Than $1,000 for Movie Reshoot—While Mark Wahlberg Made $1.5 Million
UPDATE: Sunday, January 14
Following Mark Wahlberg's decision to donate his $1.5 million salary from the All the Money in the World reshoots to Time's Up, Michelle Williams has spoken out via a statement from her rep.
"Today isn’t about me," Williams said. "My fellow actresses stood by me and stood up for me, my activist friends taught me to use my voice, and the most powerful men in charge, they listened and they acted. If we truly envision an equal world, it takes equal effort and sacrifice. Today is one of the most indelible days of my life because of Mark Wahlberg, WME and a community of women and men who share in this accomplishment. Anthony Rapp, for all the shoulders you stood on, now we stand on yours."
UPDATE: Saturday, January 13
After extensive backlash from the press, Mark Wahlberg has agreed to donate his $1.5 million fee from All the Money in the World reshoots to Time's Up, the legal defense fund established to subsidize legal support for those who have experienced sexual misconduct. The donation, made in Michelle William's name, will serve as a lasting reminder of the fact that she made less than one percent of what Wahlberg did to re-shoot the film. In addition, CAA, the agency that represents both Williams and Wahlberg has also pledged $500,000 to the fund.
"Over the last few days my reshoot fee for All The Money in the World has become an important topic of conversation. I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I’m donating the $1.5 million to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams’ name," he said in a statement.
Further reporting done by USA Today revealed on Friday that Wahlberg had a clause in his contract saying that he'd get to approve Christopher Plumber coming on board to replace Kevin Spacey, and wouldn't approve him until he was paid. Another report from The Wrap said that Williams' contract included reshoots, which is why she only got a per diem instead of another reshooting fee—whereas Wahlberg didn't and was in a better position to negotiate. A source close to the matter, however, told USA Today that both actors had reshoots included in their contracts.
One thing is still clear, though: Until pay disparity is resolved, even moves like Wahlberg's, which will truly positively impact lives, feels like a band-aid on the issue.
Original Story
A new USA Today story released last night is reporting that Michelle Williams was paid less than $1,000 to reshoot scenes for her Golden Globe–nominated performance in All the Money in the World while Mark Wahlberg received $1.5 million. And people are not pleased. Movie reshoots are not an uncommon practice and typically would not be a huge story, but in this case director Ridley Scott decided to remove Kevin Spacey from the film entirely and replace him with Christopher Plummer after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced about Spacey. This was all done incredibly quickly over Thanksgiving in order to make the film's original release date.
Scott told USA Today in December that "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…. No, they all came in free. Christopher had to get paid. But Michelle, no. Me, no." (The crew, however, was paid.) Williams herself previously told the paper, "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 now reporters say that they discovered Wahlberg's team actually negotiated a $1.5 million salary for the extra time on the job. Making it all the more complicated, the two actors are both represented by the same agency, WME.
Twitter—including Williams' bestie Busy Phillips and Jessica Chastain—exploded with outrage on Williams' behalf as soon as the story was published, calling out the pay gap but also that she was willing to do whatever it took to remove Spacey from the film while Wahlberg saw the moment as a cash grab. Talk about not reading the room, right?
While Williams has not commented directly on this story, she has played an active role in the Time's Up initiative and brought #MeToo founder Tarana Burke as her date to the Golden Globes. Wahlberg has also not commented, but public opinion does not seem to be on his side. Even if there are complicated contract technicalities that somehow make this more than a gender pay issue, it's not a great look right now to be asking for more money when so many others were simply dedicated to getting an alleged serial abuser out of the film. Could a donation to Time's Up be in his future?
