When Ridley Scott had to scramble to replace the disgraced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World, he pointed out how his efforts were made possible by selfless contributions from his cast and crew.
The reshoots allowed the film to remove Spacey and add Christopher Plummer, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.
According to a USA Today exclusive from Andrea Mandell, though, not all the cast were selfless; star Mark Wahlberg apparently demanded $1.5 million for his availability. His co-star Michelle Williams earned just $1,000.
USA Today:
Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for reshooting his scenes in All the Money in the World, three people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it tell USA TODAY, while Michelle Williams was paid an $80 per diem totaling less than $1,000.
That works out to Williams being paid less than 1% of her male co-star.
Williams was apparently unaware of the disparity:
But new information reveals ugly math behind the Hollywood victory. The reshoot cost $10 million (a fee put up by producing arm Imperative). In December, Scott told USA TODAY that the undertaking was aided by the fact that “everyone did it for nothing.”
The exchange went as follows:
RIDLEY SCOTT: “The whole reshoot was — in normal terms was expensive but not as expensive as you think. Because all of them, everyone did it for nothing.”
USA TODAY: “Really?”
SCOTT: “No, I wouldn’t get paid, I refused to get paid.”
USA TODAY: “You didn’t pay the actors more to do it?”
SCOTT: “No, they all came in free. Christopher had to get paid. But Michelle, no. Me, no. I wouldn’t do that to — ”
USA TODAY: “The crew, of course, did get paid?”
SCOTT: “Of course. “
USA TODAY has since learned Wahlberg’s team actually negotiated a hefty fee, with the actor paid $1.5 million for his reshoots. Williams wasn’t told.
That’s a horrible look, all things considered. It’s bad for Wahlberg, who chose $1.5 million over making a powerful statement, when he earned a reported $68 million in 2017. But it’s a worse look for the studio; had Williams known of Wahlberg’s fee, she might not have felt as good about showing up for per diem, for obvious reasons. Ridley Scott essentially lied about the whole thing, and he cast Kevin Spacey in the first place.
Replacing Spacey was the right thing to do, but it was probably for the wrong reasons; the studio and Scott had a lot of time and money invested in the project, and it was cheaper to spend the extra $10 million to try and salvage it than to write the entire movie off. Wahlberg also decided it was a worthy cause if the price was right. As per usual, the only person involved in a Hollywood controversy who looks blameless is a woman; Michelle Williams, clearly, wanted to do the right thing for the right reasons, and now has to deal with this.
That Williams and Wahlberg share representation is even more awkward; expect Williams to be seeking new agents any day now, unless they can get the studio to rectify the situation.
All the Money in the World has so far grossed $28.3 million against a $50 million budget.
As someone from the Boston area, I’m sorry. We’re responsible for him.
The public enabling him to make $68 million is the worst of it.