Sienna Miller was offered a role in a two-person play on Broadway. She didn’t take it, however, after finding out that they wouldn’t pay her anywhere close to what her male co-star would be making.
The play, which is as yet unnamed, would have just featured Miller and her co-star. Nobody else. And yet it was somehow deemed acceptable to only pay her half of what her co-star would be making, even though she makes up the entire other half of the acting talent.
In an interview with Vogue, Miller said:
It was a play with just two of us on stage and I was offered less than half of what he was going to be paid. If it was two men, it wouldn’t probably happen. Sad, but I walked away.
The producer wouldn’t pay equally. He wouldn’t pay me within a million miles of what the male actor was being paid. And women always have to do more publicity than the men. The only way is to make a stand. We are going to have to make sacrifices to make change. I want to turn up and feel dignified.
She’s absolutely right: if it was two men on stage, you can bet the contract negotiations would look completely different. The gender wage gap is notorious in Hollywood, and it’s not the least bit surprising that the same thing can happen on Broadway.
(via Pajiba)
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