Jennifer Lawrence had a considered response to the significantly higher salary paid to Leonardo DiCaprio, her co-star in the upcoming film Don’t Look Up.
Although the acting superstars receive equal billing for the film, it was recently reported that DiCaprio was getting $30 million for making it, contrasted with the $25 million received by Lawrence, a difference of 20%.
When asked about the pay difference by Vanity Fair, though, the actress gave a measured reply. “Leo brings in more box office than I do. I’m extremely fortunate and happy with my deal,” she said.
“In other situations, what I have seen – and I’m sure other women in the workforce have seen as well – is that it’s extremely uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay.
And if you do question something that appears unequal, you’re told it’s not gender disparity but they can’t tell you what exactly it is.”
Lawrence did fight for a more equal footing in other areas, asking to have a slightly more prominent credit than DiCaprio.
“I was number one on the call sheet, so … I thought (the credits) should reflect that,” she explained. “Leo was very gracious about it.”
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While they were initially supposed to have “diagonal billing”, Lawrence revealed she requested her name appear fractionally earlier. “I guess maybe somewhere down the line, I kicked the stone further, like, ‘What if it wasn’t equal?’”
Lawrence, to her credit, has been outspoken in the past about Hollywood’s problems with pay differences. In a 2015 essay, she stated the problems “aren’t exactly relatable”, but after finding out she was being paid a lot less than her male co-stars, she “got mad at myself.”
“I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need,” she said back then.
Don’t Look Up is the latest big-budget satirical comedy from Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short). Lawrence stars as a PhD student who discovers a comet that threatens to destroy earth, while DiCaprio is the nervous professor who teams up with her to try to warn humanity of the incoming danger.
The cast is almost too packed with big names: Jonah Hill, Meryl Steep, Timothée Chalamet, Chris Evans, Cate Blanchett, and even Ariana Grande are included in the ensemble. The film lands on Netflix on Christmas Eve.
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Check out the trailer for Don’t Look Up:
