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10 Films That Paid Its Actors A LOT More Than Its Actresses

The issue of gender pay inequality in movies has been all over the news this week thanks to Jennifer Lawrence’s essay on the subject, which saw her say she’s “over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way” to speak out about the issue.

She referenced ‘American Hustle’ as a film where, despite being a huge star in her own right, she got paid less than her male colleagues. As you’d expect, this kind of thing is sadly extremely common in Hollywood, as this salary information proves (all figures are approximate and taken from IMDB.com).

‘American Hustle’

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Bradley Cooper: 9% of the gross
Christian Bale: 9%
Jeremy Renner: 9%
Jennifer Lawrence: 7%
Amy Adams: 7%
Figures unearthed by the Sony hack revealed that Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence had deals entitling them to 7 per cent of the film’s gross, rather than the 9 per cent received by their male co-stars. “I failed as a negotiator,” said J-Law.

‘Bonnie And Clyde’
Warren Beatty - $200K + 40 % of the gross
Faye Dunaway - $30K

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Beatty was the star, producer and driving force behind the movie, but it still seems unfair that he earned more than six times as much as co-lead Dunaway, especially as she had the same amount of screen time.

‘Mr. And Mrs. Smith’
Brad Pitt - $20 million
Angelina Jolie - $10 million

Pitt earned twice the salary of his co-star and future wife Angelina for this spy drama. Pitt’s obviously a huge star, but so was Jolie in 2005 after headlining the ‘Tomb Raider’ films. At least all that money went into the joint bank account.

‘Titanic’
Leonadro DiCaprio - $2.5 million
Kate Winslet - $2 million

Leo apparently earned 25 per cent more than Kate Winslet for ‘Titanic’ even though her character is really the centre of the movie. Leo wasn’t a huge star at this point (the film would soon change that), which makes the pay gap a bit confusing.

‘Gone With The Wind’
Clark Gable - $120K
Vivien Leigh - $25K

Vivien Leigh’s 25,000 salary was a lot of cash back in 1939, but it was still dwarfed by Clark Cable’s huge $120,000 wage packet, even though – again – her character is at the heart of the film. Not really fair.

‘Casablanca’
Humphrey Bogart - $36,667
Ingrid Bergman - $25,000

Bogie got paid almost 50 per cent more than his glamourous co-star for this Hollywood classic. Bergman was on the same money as supporting actors Paul Henreid and Conrad Veidt.

‘Speed’
Keanu Reeves - $1.2 million
Sandra Bullock - 600k

A young Keanu earned twice as much as his female co-star for this 1994 thriller. The pair both became canny salary negotiators though, with Reeves becoming the highest paid actor in the world for the ‘Matrix’ sequels, while Bullock made more than $70 million from starring in ‘Gravity’.

‘You’ve Got Mail’
Tom Hanks - $20 million
Meg Ryan - $10 million

The duo were both massive stars at the time, but Hanks made double the salary of his co-star Meg Ryan. She’d learned her lesson though for her next film ‘Proof Of Life’, which saw her earn twice as much as male co-star Russell Crowe.

‘Out Of Sight’
George Clooney - $10 million
Jennifer Lopez - $2 million

Another film with two famous leads, but where the man is paid way, way more. In this case is George Clooney, who made 400 per cent more than co-star Jennifer Lopez.

‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’
Orlando Bloom - $11.9million
Keira Knightley - $5 million

Finally, this really does seem inexplicable. For the third ‘Pirates’ film, Orlando Bloom’s salary was double that of Keira Knightley, even though they had similar-sized roles and A-list reputations.

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