Robin Wright is a force to be reckoned with on “House of Cards” — and she’s a force to be reckoned with off-screen as well. While speaking at a Rockefeller Foundation event, Wright revealed that she negotiated a pay raise for her Golden Globe-winning performance as Claire Underwood on the Netflix series. “I was like, ‘I want to be paid the same as Kevin [Spacey],” Wright recalled.
“The Princess Bride” star explained, “Claire Underwood’s character was more popular than [Frank’s] for a period of time. So I capitalized on it. I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public’ And they did.”
Other actresses to speak out about the pay gap and gender inequality in Hollywood include Patricia Arquette in her Oscar acceptance speech and beyond, and Jennifer Lawrence’s famed Lenny essay post-Sony hack scandal. Charlize Theron used the leaked Sony emails revealing a pay disparity between the male and female stars of “American Hustle” to negotiate a whopping $10 million raise to star in the “Snow White” sequel “The Huntsman: Winter’s War.”
In an interview with Elle UK, the “Mad Max: Fury Road” star explained, “When I thought about the temperature out there — with finding out what Jennifer [Lawrence] and Amy [Adams] were being paid on a set with guy actors who are their counterparts… they’re just as good as any of the guys on there. Yeah, that pissed me off!” She continued, “This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn’t mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you’re doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way.”
As for how the studio reacted to her request, Theron noted, “I have to give them credit, because once I asked, they said yes, they did not fight it. And maybe that’s the message: that we just need to put our foot down.”
While we are all for women championing the value of their work, we are sadly doubtful that most attempts made by actresses to raise their salaries would go so smoothly as Theron’s and Wright’s. It’s important to remember the pressure not to ruffle feathers in Hollywood — women are already given fewer roles than men, and generally speaking, less interesting ones, so the risk of potentially alienating a studio or network can bring serious consequences. In other words, not all actresses carry as much pull as Theron and Wright do, and they can’t afford to jeopardize their chances of work, so we can sympathize with their unwillingness to, as Theron says, “put [their] foot down.” But we’re always grateful to the actresses — and actors — who publicly address the pay gap and push this conversation forward.
