Why does Mark Wahlberg, but not Michelle Williams, get all the money in the world?

CLOSE

USA TODAY has learned that Michelle Williams earned less than 1% of what Mark Wahlberg made for reshooting scenes for 'All the Money in the World.' USA TODAY

So all the money in the world went to Mark Wahlberg, but not Michelle Williams? Really? I need to put my head on my desk and scream silently for two minutes.

There, I'm ready to proceed. Tuesday's USA Today story that revealed the gender pay gap between the two stars for re-shoots of “All The Money In the World” is yet another example of Hollywood’s behavior putting a spotlight on a larger social issue.

According to the reporting, Williams received the per diem rate of less than $1,000 for returning to work to help replace alleged serial predator Kevin Spacey's scenes with new ones featuring Christopher Plummer. Wahlberg, however, got $1.5 million.

Give me a few more seconds for internal outrage. OK. The news sparked angry reactions online. "Depressing as hell," tweeted Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weeky. “This is totally unacceptable,” echoed actress/activist Amber Tamblyn.  “THIS IS AN EGREGIOUS GENDER PAY GAP,” all-capped Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood,which advocates for gender equality.

And the backlash convinced Wahlberg to make amends. On Saturday, news broke that the actor and his agency, William Morris Endeavor, are giving $2 million in Williams' name to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. Its goal is to support those fighting against workplace harassment.

Wahlberg is donating his $1.5 million re-shoot fee. William Morris Endeavor, which also represents Williams, is kicking in $500,000, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 

Read more: 

Wahlberg's gift is the right move, and not just for damage control. After all, the gender inequality of the re-shoot fees is only placed in sharper focus by the contrasting performances given by him and Williams. Having seen “All the Money In the World,” I can safely say that Williams is a million times more important to the film’s tone and dramatic tension than Wahlberg is. Well maybe more like 1,500 times, which represents the actual pay difference.

Playing the mother of the kidnapped John Paul Getty III, the grandson of cheapskate billionaire J. Paul Getty, who refuses to pay his grandson’s ransom (oh, the irony!), Williams gives a subtle, yet powerful interpretation of a woman racing against time to raise enough money to save her child. She's earned a Golden Globe nomination as best actress in a drama and is seen as a contender for an Oscar nod. 

Wahlberg, in contrast, is fine as a Getty security expert who helps Williams' character and ends up seeing the flaws of his boss. It’s an understated job for the “Transformers” action star. But it doesn’t drive the narrative the way the pain and determination of Williams pain does.

Yet Williams got less than one percent of Wahlberg’s fee for completing the work in time for the film's December release? Hmmm, ever heard of a woman cooperating for the greater good, while a man asks for more bucks when he knows you’re in a bind?

The implications of the gender pay gap between women and men are huge (and includes people who aren't famous and don’t have personal assistants). According to the national data, women earn roughly 80 cents for every dollar men make. That difference can be reduced depending on education and other factors or widened in the case of women of color. But nevertheless, it persists.

And it dramatically impacts the lifetime earning power of women. As Emily Martin of Workplace Justice at the National Women’s Law Center told CNN in April 2017, the loss represented by the wage gap for women working full-time the entire year is more than $10,000.

As usual these days, Hollywood is inadvertently helping to frame the problem in dramatic terms. Although director Ridley Scott told USA Today in December that "everyone did it for nothing,” that wasn’t the case. Williams didn’t seek a big chunk of change. Speaking to the same newspaper for a prior story, the actress stated, "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."

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Wahlberg asked his agent "to push for more money," a hardball tactic that achieved the results that are so shocking. He earned more than one-tenth of the $10 million estimated price-tag of doing the re-shoots. The Times also delivered the crucial fact that Williams, according to sources, took only the per diem while "believing that other participants had made the same decision."

It's true that Wahlberg was just accepting the salary that he was deemed worth. It's also a financial reality that Wahlberg has many box-office hits on his resume, while Williams tends to favor smaller projects that do better at attracting critical acclaim than actual ticket buyers.

But the big picture is this: Hollywood can mirror the greatness of humanity with its movies, and it also mirrors the gross injustices of society. It talks a good game, but it’s lagged behind in putting women and people of color in positions of power, just like the rest of corporate America. Most recently it's been called out for hiding or turning a blind eye to systemic sexual harassment and abuse, as the Harvey Weinstein examples (which he denies) have taught us.

And now, hot on the heels of the empowering #TimesUp Golden Globes ceremony, Hollywood is providing a teachable moment on the economic priorities of the people writing the paychecks in the entertainment industry.

Instead of telling women they need to be louder in asking for more dough, those making movies need to look at their own ledger books and attack the problem. The time is up for their unfair numbers, too.

All the money in the world can’t buy quality when it comes to making art and entertainment. But it should be lining the pockets of the stars – and every other person working in every job out there – in an equal fashion.

This story was updated Saturday, January 13, 2017 to include Wahlberg and agency's donation to Time's Up.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.