By now, most people will have seen Don’t Look Up, and I only say that because it’s the second most watched film in Netflix history behind Red Notice. It’s a pretty good film with a star-studded cast, but according to Jennifer Lawrence, the gender pay gap was in full effect given what she and Leo DiCaprio were paid for their roles.
As per Variety, Leo was paid $30million for the film while Lawrence was paid $25million – despite being the top billed star. In an interview with Vogue, Lawrence says she found the pay gap between them to be ‘bothersome’:
‘It doesn’t matter how much I do. I’m still not going to get paid as much as that guy, because of my vagina?’
Now someone who wanted to be a bit mean might say that the reason Jennifer Lawrence got paid $25 million in the first place was because of her vagina. I’m not gonna say that but I do see the point that if she had the exact same acting ability but wasn’t half as attractive, she wouldn’t be in the film in the first place, let alone be getting paid $25m for it.
At the same time, Hollywood does like to present itself as really progressive and aware especially when it comes to gender equality, and yet they’ve paid J-Law $5m less than her male co-star despite them both being top-billed A-listers in the movie. Maybe Lawrence is right and she is being ripped off. What I don’t get though is why she doesn’t complain about this stuff before filming the movie? After all, during the infamous Sony hack in 2014, Lawrence said the following after discovering she and Amy Adams were paid less than Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale for American Hustle:
‘When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d**ks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself.’
8 years later she’ll still being paid less than her male co-stars, so I’m not sure why she doesn’t kick up a fuss during contract talks with Netflix rather than complain to Vogue magazine a year after the movie’s out. Maybe she needs a better agent? Or maybe there isn’t another actor or actress on this planet that would get paid the same as Leo DiCaprio in any movie he’s on. Still, I’m sure she’ll get plenty more opportunities given she’s worth $160 million already. Go Jennifer Go!
To watch Jennifer Lawrence address Harvey Weinstein’s claims that he slept with her, click HERE.
