Mark Wahlberg Paid $1.5M for Reshoots, But Michelle Williams Paid Under $1K: Report
Weirdly enough, they are represented by the same agency. Not for long?
Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams costar in "All the Money in the World," which went through some quick reshoots when Kevin Spacey was dropped as J. Paul Getty and Christopher Plummer stepped in.
Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, and director Ridley Scott went on to be nominated at this past weekend's Golden Globe Awards.
Williams plays Gail Harris, the mother of the kidnapped John Paul Getty III, with Wahlberg as the former CIA operative who works as her advisor. She actually has top billing. But USA Today just reported that Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for reshooting his scenes while Williams was paid an $80 per diem totaling less than $1,000.
When reports came out about the reshoots, Ridley Scott had told USA Today the crew got paid, and Plummer got paid, but the other actors "all came in free." ("Free" meaning just the union minimum, which is around what Williams was paid in that per diem.) However, USA Today just reported that they "since learned Wahlberg's team actually negotiated a hefty fee, with the actor paid $1.5 million for his reshoots. Williams wasn't told."
She wasn't told. Maybe they didn't tell Ridley Scott, either? You could fairly suspect Wahlberg just had a better agent, but here's what USA Today added on that front:
"Wahlberg and Williams are both represented by the William Morris Endeavor agency. Actors pay a team of agents, managers and lawyers an average of 10% of their salaries to advocate for them."
Reps for the agency and the director didn't respond to the outlet's request for comment.
Social media was not happy with the situation:
This is shameful. And both Wahlberg and Williams are repped by the same agency: WME....Exclusive: Wahlberg paid $1.5M for 'All the Money' reshoot, Williams got less than $1,000
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) January 10, 2018
Michelle Williams: "I said I'd be wherever they needed me, whenever they needed me. And they could have my salary, they could have my holiday, whatever they wanted. Because I appreciated so much that they were making this massive effort." https://t.co/7P0ZQwdvrm
— Tyler Coates (@tylercoates) January 10, 2018
This is so messed up that it is almost hard to believe. Almost. This is how this business works. I wonder if the studio or Wahlberg will do something to make the situation less insane. https://t.co/RsunBlOeCk
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) January 10, 2018
Shameful indeed. And this is a movie about how greedy and heartless men can be! https://t.co/aRTi2tqWGG
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) January 10, 2018
Michelle Williams is a captivating, brilliant talent. Her willingness to take 1k to fix the film is wholly honorable. Why didn't @WME protect their client? Because they were too busy leveraging her shitty deal to get Wahlberg more money. Wahlberg packaged Entourage at WME.
— Krumholtz (@mrDaveKrumholtz) January 10, 2018
Please go see Michelle's performance in All The Money in The World. She's a brilliant Oscar nominated Golden Globe winning actress. She has been in the industry for 20 yrs. She deserves more than 1% of her male costar' s salary. https://t.co/HIniew6lf7
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) January 10, 2018
Wahlberg has his defenders, with fans arguing he just used his leverage to get money; Williams could've demanded money but offered to work for nothing to keep the film's costs down and support the message:
Idk why Wahlberg is getting killed for this? Everyone else volunteered to do it for free, he knew he had the studio over a barrel and they had to reshoot so he said give me a lot of money. https://t.co/U8moe2I0bW
— Feitelberg (@FeitsBarstool) January 10, 2018
Such a Slytherin answer, but it's true. Weird that no one told Michelle Williams, though. Or her agents in the same company? And maybe Ridley Scott didn't know when he said in interviews that they all came back for free.
In related news, Wahlberg was recently named 2017's most overpaid actor, by Forbes:
"Thanks to a string of box office disappointments, Wahlberg is this year's most overpaid actor: His three wide releases prior to June 1, 2017, returned just $4.40 at the box office for every $1 he was paid on them. With disappointments including 2016's oil spill drama Deepwater Horizon, which barely out-earned its estimated $110 million budget, Wahlberg's multi-million dollar paydays look mighty expensive."
He must have the best agent ever. Forbes added that the 2017 ranking was "dominated by stars such as Wahlberg whose historic success has warranted eight figure quotes, even when their recent movies fail to perform."
At some point, though, you'd think that would stop.
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