Amanda Seyfried has a newish interview with the Sunday Times. I’ve been waiting for some key quotes to drop because she reportedly complains about her beauty as a crutch. The discussion starts off with Amanda saying, “People walk out on pretty people all the time. Do you know how much sh*t I’ve carried around, had in my life, for this?” The context seems off somehow. Amanda doesn’t seem like the type to throw out an outburst, and she may have been quoting lines from a role.
Also in this interview Amanda reveals that a male co-star made 10 times more than she did. The two roles were the same size, and the actors were equal in status. But since Hollywood is a lot like real life, he made more than she did:
“A few years ago, on one of my big-budget films, I found I was being paid 10 percent of what my male co-star was getting. And we were pretty even in status. I think people think that just because I’m easygoing and game to do things, I’ll just take as little as they offer It’s not about how much you get, it’s about how fair it is. You have to decide if you’re willing to walk away from something, especially as a woman.”
[From The Sunday Times]
Now we get to guess which same-status male co-star made far more than Amanda. I figure she’s either talking about Justin Timberlake (In Time) or Channing Tatum (Dear John ). Probably Channing. When Amanda and JT filmed together, studios still considered him a “get,” so his status as an actor was (deceptively) higher. Whereas Channing and Amanda were both up-and-comers when they worked together. Yes, it’s ridiculous that he’d get paid 10 times more than her, especially for a dumb Nicholas Sparks movie.
Stories like this are why I get so excited to hear about Jennifer Lawrence making more than Chris Pratt in their upcoming film together.
Photos courtesy of WENN
She needs a new agent.
I agree. Professional agents probably represent male actors too so they should have some knowledge of what they get from their movies. If they still won’t bother to negotiate better salaries for their female clients they should be dropped.
I don’t understand this though because the more the client makes the more the agent gets, right? Are they afraid that their client will not be hired if they ask for more and think that little is better than nothing?
+1
I dont understand it.The agent gets a percentage of the deal so obviously its in their interest too to get as much money as possible. They could always leak the info to press if they wanted their client to make more money. Its really puzzling.
I think it comes more from a place of producers and directors believing that male stars are more irreplaceable than that of a young starlet.
That’s why JLaw got so many think pieces in the press about the pay for Passengers because Sony leaked to the press how much she was asking (to force her hand?) and she was willing to walk if she didn’t get it and I don’t think they were used to an actress doing that.
That was my first thought too. What the hell are her reps doing? I’d fire them for that.
+1
I agree. Her agent should have some awareness of the budget and what the other star is being offered, and NEVER should have accepted 10% of that.
I seriously hope it wasn’t Timberlake, he’s terrible at acting and only gets hired because he’s famous and decided he wanted to do it.
Someone probably told him they had Mila Kunis and Jessica Biel on backup if she didn’t sign. Femal actresses are interchangeable and replaceable, and should be happy for the parts they get, yada yada.
Channing Tatum? Eddie Redmayne?
Her dog Finn is everything.
Right? Honestly, Bedhead, I don’t know how you expect me to concentrate on what is an important issue when you toss in pictures of Finn.
Finn the Dog needs to step in for her. How can you say no to that face? Start letting your dog negotiate for you, Amanda.
Completely agreed. All I came to say was “DOGGGYYYYYY!”
That is all.
I love the tee she’s wearing while walking Finn.
It’s the Best Friends Animal Society logo. You can order one from their website.
“It’s not about what you get. It’s about how fair it is”
True. So is it fair that Hollywood actors get paid more than people who risk their lives or save lives?
Yes it’s fair if their work helps to generate tens or hundreds of millions of profits for the studio. Where should the money go? Should the studio keep it all?
why do the actors get most of it when its mostly franchises nowadays? why isnt it being divided more equal between everyone working on the movie?
I could say the same thing about assembly line workers in China.
Rhonda: in what universe does the actor get most of that franchise money?
Sure the star name gets a big check compared to the other actors and or the rest of the crew, but it’s still a drop in the bucket compared to what flows back to the studio.
Further, just because a franchise makes BO, there are hidden expenses that mean the profits are actually very small.
I agree MP. If you are a big part and the public face of something that generates huge income, you should be compensated for it.
Good point. Or to stay in her industry is it fair that the screenwriter, the person who comes up with the story and every little word gets paid a tiny fraction of someone with long blonde hair gets standing in front of the camera being told how to say those words?
Is it fair that more talented but “uglier” actresses dont get her roles? Definitely not.
But like with most people its only about fairness when its about them.
You’re talking about different professions. There will always be a divide between, say, a waiter and a CEO. Are actors “worth” as much as the CEO? Well, if the CEO ran the company into the ground, they sure are. It could be an endless discussion but if we stick with the same profession, then she is of course right. She’s doing the same work as the male co-star so why wouldn’t she be paid the same? If you want a nurse to be paid more than a famous actor, you’re going to have to run for office and possibly try to change the economic system.
“You’re talking about different professions”
No. I’m talking about fairness.
I get what you’re saying and agree, it’s the comparison of same job, same movie, same amount of work, same promotional duties that’s at issue in this particular case.
We also have to remember that most working actors don’t actually make that much, and even when they do get a nice job, there’s a chance they won’t work for a year after that and the paycheck has to last. It’s only a small percentage of all the actors in the world who get the big bucks, part of the profit, the endorsement deals, etc.
A lot of fields, my own included, have “stars” who make a drastically different living than most in the profession.
Thats capitalism for you. Movies make a lot of money so its a profitable industry. Buildings dont turn into cash when they get burned, to the misfortune of firefighters.
Did someone force them to choose this job over going to Hollywood?
Is anyone surprised by that comment? Hollywood is infamous for nearly always having the balance in men’s favour be it pay, second chances for when things go wrong and having the opportunity to move up in career but the pay being 10x the amount for the same work is a particular bad reflection of gender inequality.
Damn shame, I hope she was able to express that she deserved a greater sum of money. Sadly nothing changes with these idiots, too busy running businesses based on their own sheltered decision-making and not what’s fair and balanced.
I bet the costar was Timberlake. He’s waaaay overpaid for his ‘acting’.
For acting sure, for name recognition not. He is still way more famous than she is, especially world wide.
Sadly still a problem in so many places. I just found out about the same issue in my workplace (ok not 1/10th but still …) between myself and a male colleague at the same level, so I’m working on a strategy to deal with it. I have no agent to negotiate for me and in this country there is no real legal recourse (the law is very employer friendly), but for sure the s**t is going to hit the fan.
I hope she’s given hell to her agent and is now demanding equal pay.
that stinks. i’m dealing with the same thing however there is male that is not on my level being paid the same as me and a female on the same level as me being paid $5000 more then me because she “flirted harder for her pay”.
Bedhead, I don’t know if you have full access to the article but it specifically says that the ‘pretty people’ quote is her saying lines from a play by Neil LaBute she is in. She then talks about whether or not she agrees with the quote. So you were spot on when you said it didn’t seem like her words 🙂
Does anybody know what breed of dog Finn is?
Australian Shepard
As is often the case, the male costar was probably cast first. The lady gets whatever is left in the budget.
I don’t think it is Channing Tatum because Dear John is not a big budget movie. Its production budget is 25M.
I thought that too – but shes talking about proportions, so maybe Channing wasnt even paid that much (but Amanda was paid even less).
Maybe shes talking about Eddie Redmayne in Les Mis? As far as I recall Amanda hasnt been in superhero flicks or franchises or anything else with a huge budget.
I don’t get how talented starlets are considered replaceable/exchangeable but guys like Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt are unique? They look like every frat boy on every college campus. And offer about as much in wit and personality. IMO.
Right? I know it’s awful, but I can’t tell Channing and Chris and Liam apart. I always have to go looking, “Which one is he again?”
Guys, 10% more does NOT (!!!) equal 10x more!
If someone was getting paid 10x more than me for doing the same work, I would be almost violently angry. If someone was paid 10% more I would calmly but VERY sternly talk to my higher ups. Sometimes women are unjustly paid less than men but by and large
https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whatsitworth-complete.pdf
Women choose easier, more popular ‘disciplines’. The pay gap is mostly a skills gap with a dash of learned helplessness. (fortunately, women are raised now to be resilient in math-engineering studies and to speak up for themselves.)
Jess – per the article, she was making 10% (I.e. 1/10th) of her male co-star. That means he was making 10x her salary, not “10%” more, as you suggested. Also the article establishes that they were working at the same level. She hadn’t chosen an easier job, whatever that means.
Ah, you’re right. I should have read the original quote in the gray box.
Anyone else see the article a few weeks ago (around the time Ted 2 was released) about studio reports about her bankability as a star? The gist was that audiences had zero interest in seeing her, doubly so compared to Mila Kunis, which partially explained Ted 2’s weak showing. It surprised me because I find Amanda likable and rather endearing, and the report (I think it was on Deadline) was pretty negative about her.
If there’s truth to the report, it might partially explain the salary disparity. Doesn’t make it right, but would explain it.
Not really, in my mind. If they thought she had no draw, then they should not have hired her. Once they hired her, they had an obligation to pay her a fair salary for the job she was hired to perform.
They had every right NOT to hire an actress with no box office pull. But they did hire her. So pay her. Don’t hire her if you don’t think she deserves the job. If you hire her, pay her.
Yeah, she’s one of those actresses I don’t mind, but she has absolutely no impact on whether I see one of her movies or not. James Marsden is like that too, lots of people like him, but he just doesn’t have that ‘thing’ that makes people want to see his films.
They only have an obligation to pay the actors scale. Anything more than that is down to their agents negotiating skills and what the actors themselves will accept.
When all this equal rights amendment spin started up again a year ago I reread Gloria Steinem’s “Outrageous Acts” book. I heard her quote on a Youtube interview that during the 60’s she should have addressed/gone after equal pay for women during the feminist movement. Since the equal rights bill inception in 1923 (Jane Adams) and every other feminist since has tried and failed in the US. Even Canada your neighbour has equal pay mostly. When are American women going to stand up and make a noise?
Wasn’t the pay gap debunked? Didn’t researchers find that the pay gap was attributed to leaves of absence and women largely choosing relatively low paying fields of study? Even accounting for 4/5 engineering majors being men, didn’t further research find that for equal work, men and women were paid equally? It is harder to quantitate certain fields (i.e. acting) and thus certain fields are more susceptible to wage disparity, but by and large, wasn’t the pay gap debunked?
Yes, it has been.
When comparing lawyers to lawyers, teachers to teachers, and surgeons to surgeons, the wage gap disappears.
It is a falsehood perpetuated because it is an effective political tool.
There’s still a pay gap when you compare lawyer and lawyer etc. At least in my country (around 11 %).
Don’t actors have people who negotiate their pay for them? You just gotta find a legal and financial shark to represent you in this and continue being nice in producers faces while those people rip their asses off!
I truly believe that sexist pay in Hollywood is not a reality. Yeah, maybe you think you are equal to your costar, but that just isn’t the case and it has nothing to do with your sex. Since gender is apparently no longer a thing, let’s go with the true definition: sex. Most people were born male or female. It is equivalent to me declaring myself a unicorn. Tomorrow, I will be a unicorn.
Throughout my career, the more I got paid, the less work I performed. Manager means telling other people to perform tasks you once did and them critiquing their work. Crazy how that works. I get paid BANK to essentially delegate and plan. No gender equality here. When others complain about pay, I always say, “We ALL have an opportunity to negotiate our salaries, If you didn’t have the value or skills to negotiate a fair salary, the blame is on you.” I am paid fairly because 1) I demanded it and 2) I deserved it.