Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg
The cast of ‘All the Money in the World’ faces fallout over pay days
WHEN REPORTS SURFACED ON JAN. 10 THAT Mark Wahlberg was paid 1,500 times more than his co-star Michelle Williams for 10 days of reshoots for the film All the Money in the World, the industry was quick to cry foul. Five days later, Wahlberg announced that he was donating his $US1.5 million reshoot salary to the Time’s Up Legal Defence Fund, combatting harassment in the workplace. “I 100 per cent support the fight for fair pay,” he said. Their shared agency also donated $US500,000 in Williams’s name.
The controversy stems from when director Ridley Scott replaced Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple men, with Christopher Plummer in the role of billionaire J. Paul Getty, just six weeks before the movie’s release. Both Williams, 37, and Wahlberg, 46, were needed for reshoots in Europe. Wahlberg had originally signed on to the film for a “significant salary cut from his usual quote,” says an insider. While both actors had reshoot provisions in their contracts, Wahlberg had co-star approval and “decided to take advantage of that part of his contract to renegotiate his overall movie fee,” says the insider. Williams, enthusiastic about making a statement by replacing Spacey, “nicely, wholeheartedly and voluntarily made herself available”— for an $80 per diem. “Michelle was so happy over the reason to reshoot that she didn’t think much beyond it, she wasn’t focused on pay,” says an industry source. But she, and her agent, didn’t know what Wahlberg was making. “She’s upset now over the difference and seeking to do something about it,” says the source.
“Today isn’t about me,” Williams said in a statement, thanking Wahlberg and WME for their donations. “If we truly envision an equal world, it takes equal effort and sacrifice.”
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