Featured Image Credit: The Graham Norton Show /Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy
Topics: Film and TV, News, Mark Wahlberg
Gregory Robinson
Topics: Film and TV, News, Mark Wahlberg
Michelle Williams reflected on how she fought for equal pay for taking part in reshoots for the 2017 drama All the Money in the World.
The Dawson's Creek star, 42, sat down on the red sofa for a chat with Graham Norton on Friday's (20 January) edition of The Graham Norton Show.
She was joined by Helena Bonham Carter, Russell T Davies, Oti Mabuse and Brendan Fraser.
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Bonham Carter discussed the importance of having female producers on films, which led to the talk show host referencing the huge controversy surrounding her pay for the film co-starring Mark Wahlberg and Christopher Plummer.
Originally, Kevin Spacey was cast in the role of J. Paul Getty, before Plummer replaced him amid sexual misconduct allegations shortly before the film's release.
Despite the movie being mostly finished, reshoots were organised to remove Spacey from the film.
The ‘enormous’ disparity between Wahlberg and Williams’ was later leaked by USA Today. The Ted actor was given a pay cheque of $1.5 million while the Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award-winner received $80 per day, which worked out to about $1,000 according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I hadn’t known at the time,” Williams told Norton about the pay discrepancy.
“It wound up being a really incredible teaching moment because the disparity was so enormous, sometimes it’s really difficult to talk about these things and it’s really difficult to make people understand the difference between $10 an hour, $14 an hour and this example was really able to shine a light on the disparity that exists for all women and I found myself suddenly as the person who was the most able to talk about it."
After describing herself as a 'shy' person, Williams went on: “I think when I look back on my life in my rocking chair with my 18 grandchildren surrounding me, I think that this will be the moment that I forever feel the closest to and the most of proud of that I - this turtle of a person - was able to find my voice in this moment and stand up and speak out and become an example of women being underpaid in the workplace.”
Williams shared the changes she has seen after standing up for women’s rights in the workplace, including getting positive feedback from both men and women as well as studio executives.
“I have seen a shift,” she shared on the show. “And I’ve been the beneficiary of so many women coming up to me and so many men coming up to me and saying ‘I didn’t know until I heard your story and I’ve changed standard operating procedure within my own company.'
“I’m very grateful to have done that,” she added while the audience and fellow guests on stage applauded.
Following the outrage as a result of the pay discrepancy, Wahlberg announced he'd donate the $1.5 million to the Time’s Up movement in the name of his co-star Williams.