www.thegrindstone.com: It’s well documented that Mark Wahlberg is kind of an asshole, but he’s taken a lot of steps within the last two decades to at least publicly correct that.
There was a public uproar when it was revealed that Wahlberg made 1,000 times more money for re-shoots of All The Money In The World than co-star (and multiple Oscar nominee) Michelle Williams did. However, that doesn’t necessarily make Wahlberg the bad guy here: Re-shoots were written into Williams’ original contract, not Wahlberg’s, which is a big reason why he charged such a hefty fee for his.
Wahlberg, in light of the public backlash against the pay disparity, donated the entire $1.5 million sum to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
7 comments:
I like how this article is framing this issue a lot. I did not understand at all why Wahlberg was getting so much hate over this issue. It was not like he got paid 1000 times more because he is a man. It was because of his negotiation with the production. I agree with this article that the real problem here is with their agents who really should have realized that this disparity would be an issue. The biggest problem I have with Wahlberg making this much money is that it is as a result of Kevin Spacey being pulled from the project after his scandal came to light. Of course it seems deplorable to profit so much off of something like this, but again I do not know if Wahlberg is entirely to blame for this. I think it is just a different mind set. He saw it as a part of the job, while Williams saw it as doing a favor for the production, something Wahlberg just did not seem to feel compelled to do.
This article asks a really important question: why does WME make such different deals for Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams? Why does a company that represents two very talented actors, agree to two different deals for the same movie? That just feels very off. The only difference that is visible between these two actors (other than nominations) is their gender. It is painful to know that an organization that represents female and male actors simply succumbed to the gender wage gap. It’s nice to know that Wahlberg did end up donating the 1.5million that he earned to an amazing cause, however, this event shouldn’t have occured in the first place. While I felt like WME’s statement to Deadline was somewhat empty in its attempt to say that WME as an organization will change, it is really nice to know that they are also donating $500,000 to Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. It’s important to bring events like these into daily conversations to remind everyone that there are people attempting to make real change to the inequities that are apparent in the world.
This article was another good look at the inequalities between men and women in Hollywood and in all industries. Cooper brought up an interesting point above, though, that it was not necessarily that WME was trying to pay Mark Wahlberg less than Michelle Williams because she is a woman, but instead it was because of original negotiations of salary at the beginning of production of the movie. This brings up an important point about expectations between genders. Part of the wage gap is because women notoriously do not ask for raises or large salaries because they feel that they must conform to social politeness, etc. Perhaps the answer to Michelle Williams agreeing to get paid more in the first place is for it to be expected that her agents, etc. expect her to get paid just as much as her counterparts. The other thing that would have been nice is for Mark Wahlberg to think of donating his money to Time's Up before getting pressured to do so by outside sources on social media, etc. However, all ended well and I hope this goes as an example to more actors and public figures to step up and take part in systematic change.
I was watching the Weekend Update this past weekend and they mentioned this incident in it. Aidy Bryant made a joke about just the same thing Anabel mentioned, that he should have done this without public pressure. I think that he should've done it secretly even. It almost seems like he is trying to gain publicity points for being a "good guy" and truly good people don't do it for the cameras, or the publicity, or their public image. If Mark Wahlberg was truly a good guy, he would have donated that money without telling everyone he was doing it and he would've donated it even if Michelle Williams got a fair shake. There is no reason that man needs another 1.5 million dollars. If he was truly a supporter, he wouldn't need public shaming to want to help the legal fund along. I really hope that he and WME can learn from this mistake and start considering the women around them more.
This case highlights a larger over arching problem within the industry wherein gender is used as a gauge for pay expectation. WME should have negotiated the same thing for both Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams especially because both are equally successful and high profile clients. This article does a good job of highlighting the injustice of this situation without pointing unnecessary figures at people who should not be seen as a villain. Wahlberg only knows about his own contract, there is no reason to believe that he would have known about his costars payments before this story broke out. So, though the idea of him donating in secret is nice, it should be considered that he might have not even known about the discrepancy before the story became public. When this story broke, people automatically pointed fingers at the big, powerful man present in this situation. Though this instinct is inevitable in light of the recent horrible revelations about other Hollywood men, readers and consumers must be conscious to consider the whole situation before passing judgement. I think that automatically pointing fingers without knowing the full story diminishes the wonderful and powerful impact that the Times Up movement is having within the industry and the very real change that is occurring.
This article frames an important issue in the film industry and I think it goes about it pretty well. There is a gap in gender pay and equality in the entertainment world but it exists everywhere and what is good about this article is that it looks at this scenario in the film industry but doesn’t limit it to it much like many other articles will do (as they limit it to business generally speaking). I am also glad to hear that they are not just bashing on Mark Wahlberg as he tries to actually makeup for the fact of this unequal pay that was clearly blatant to everyone. All the while, also making up for it as he helps through that donation to Times Up Legal Defense Fund. It is just nice to see an article that takes a tasteful approach to an event and doesn’t try and bash but simply explains and in plain terms. It is a much better approach to what happened than what the public usually receives.
I hesitate to celebrate Mark Wahlberg for this action for the plain and simple reason that it is so public that it was done with at least a portion of the thought that it will make him into the pubic “good guy”, which is something that a few prior comments have acknowledged. That being said, I do have to recognize him for realizing the inequality that he was facing, and actively, not only correcting that inequality, but actually doing something to speak out against that inequality in an entire industry. Inequality like this is a disheartening problem; the ethical line that is crossed by companies such as WME to allow a disparity like this, and move forward is if it is completely acceptable truly sets my teeth on edge. Michelle Williams agreed to reshoot for a small payment because she was thrilled that WME was willing to do so in the first place, and that is the kind of change that I hope to see in men. I want them to want equality so much that they are willing to demonstrate that goal from the very beginning, not just backtracking because of the information that the public has received, and wanting to turn negative pressure into a self-celebration.
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