The Guardian

Hollywood’s gender pay gap revealed: male stars earn $1m more per film than women

Disparity is almost the same in 2015 as in 1980, say researchers who call for contracts to be made public
Patricia Arquette called for ‘wage equality once and for all’ during her 2015 Oscar acceptance speech. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

In the Richard Curtis film Notting Hill, the bumbling stockbroker Bernie, played by Hugh Bonneville, meets Anna Scott, unaware that Julia Roberts’s character is the world’s most famous female actor.

Upon learning her profession, he patronisingly commiserates with Anna about the low wages paid to actors, declaring them “a scandal”, and asks how much she received for her last movie. Without missing a beat, Anna replies “$15m”, the actual amount Roberts was paid

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