Chadwick Boseman Took a Pay Cut to Increase Sienna Miller's Salary on 21 Bridges
Chadwick Boseman Took a Pay Cut to Increase Sienna Miller's Salary on 21 Bridges
She "asked for a number that the studio wouldn't get to."
Back when the movie 21 Bridges was still getting its cast together, Chadwick Boseman donated part of his salary so that his co-star, Sienna Miller, could get paid what she deserved. In a new interview with Empire magazine, Miller explained that it was the first time she'd seen someone in the industry act with so much grace and respect and that when she recounts the story to other male actors, she says they ″go very, very quiet.″
Miller notes that she didn't want to get into the details of everything that happened, but shared her story so that fans could get some insight to Boseman's character after he passed away last August from colon cancer. Miller says that she ″asked for a number that the studio wouldn't get to" when she was negotiating and that she was hesitating to sign on because of her growing family.
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″This was a pretty big-budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn't get to,″ Miller said. ″And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, 'I'll do it if I'm compensated in the right way.' And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.″
Miller went to say that the situation gives other actors a real moment of reflection, since it's clear that few of them stepped up the way Boseman did. She added that it was ″about the most astounding thing that I've experienced″ and ″that kind of thing just doesn't happen.″
″It's just unfathomable to imagine another man in [Hollywood] behaving that graciously or respectfully,″ Miller added. ″In the aftermath of this, I've told other male actor friends of mine that story, and they all go very, very quiet and go home and probably have to sit and think about things for a while."
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Miller said that she was also thrilled that Boseman was a fan of her work. In addition to acting in 21 Bridges, he co-produced the film and he pushed for Miller's inclusion.
″He was a fan of my work, which was thrilling, because it was reciprocated from me to him, tenfold. So he approached me to do it, he offered me this film, and it was at a time when I really didn't want to work anymore," Miller finished. "I'd been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him."
