Thursday, March 28, 2024

Mark Wahlberg Donates Back “All the Money” Reshoot Fee Plus to (Sort of) Resolve Michelle Williams Brouhaha

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So: to quiet things down, there’s sort of a resolution in the brouhaha over Mark Wahlberg’s pay discrepancy with Michelle Williams over the movie “All the Money in the World.”

It was revealed this week by USA Today that Wahlberg got $1 million bucks to come back for reshoots with Christopher Plummer. Michelle Williams got expenses and a bus token worth $1,000. It was outrageous (and a good scoop) especially in this moment when women are on the move for pay parity and the right to be treated without violence. (Is it really 2018? Not 1952?)

Now Wahlberg is donating back his fee plus $500,000. WME, the agency that reps Williams (but didn’t seem to have much regard for her) is also donating $500,000 to the newly formed TimesUp group to battle discrimination and sexual assault, help victims etc. Wahlberg said in a  statement: “Over the last few days my reshoot fee for All The Money in the World has become an important topic of conversation. I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I’m donating the $1.5 million to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams’ name.”

But what none of this addresses, of course, is Williams and what she was worth– that she wasn’t worth the same amount as Wahlberg in the minds of the filmmakers, studio, and agents. It seemed perfectly appropriate to pay Williams almost nothing despite her being a person just like Wahlberg, head of a house hold, multiple Oscar nominee, and lead actor in the movie.

You know what would have been better? If Wahlberg had kept his $1 mil and other $1 mil went straight to Williams.  And by the way: her performance was worth it.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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