“It feels a little like a veil has been lifted, and we’re talking to one another in a muscular way about stuff that we’ve had to deal with,” Cate Blanchett tells Julia Roberts in a new feature on Interview. The Oscar winners seem to be alluding to the fact that their industry is evolving in the wake of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. Conversations that took place in hushed tones — if they occurred at all — are now being held in the mainstream media. And the women of Hollywood have plenty to say after being silenced so long.
While talking with Roberts, the “Ocean’s 8” star traces a connection between the stigma of talking about money in Hollywood and the fight for equal pay. “We can all pretend that we live in a community, but we actually live in a capitalist environment and our worth is being measured in dollars. It’s a really boring conversation to have because when you talk about the creative industry, it’s always seen as, ‘Well, you’re famous. You’ve got the opportunity to do this, and now you’re being greedy to talk about money.’ But you’re not,” Blanchett explains. “You’re talking about really practical things such as residuals, producing credits, insurance. In the end, you’re actually talking about status. And status opens doors, whether you’re in the banking sector or the film industry or whatever. They’re not attractive conversations,” she observes. “They’re not conversations that women are traditionally meant to have because we’re expected to be more demure, but there are certainly robust ‘masculine’ compensations that are had by our male counterparts, so why shouldn’t we be a part of that dialogue?”
In other words, men in Hollywood have received greater compensation partially because women have been relegated to the sidelines — and made to feel wrong for advocating for themselves — when it comes to discussing and negotiating deals.
Jennifer Lawrence, Viola Davis, and Taraji P. Henson are among those who have spoken out about Hollywood’s pay gap.
Blanchett will be seen next in “Where’d You Go Bernadette?” An adaptation of Maria Semple’s novel of the same name, the dramedy tells the story of a woman who disappears. The pic hits theaters August 9.
