Emma Stone Says Her Male Co-Stars Have Taken Pay Cuts To Advance Her Career

Emma Stone in La La Land

The issue of the gender pay disparity in Hollywood has been a hot-button issue in recent years. Women in Hollywood tend to get paid less than their male co-stars. However, Emma Stone has found a way to work around the issue. The Battle of the Sexes actress says that she's actually asked her male co-stars to take pay cuts on some of her films so that the two of them will have pay equity. This isn't simply a short term solution but a long term benefit to Stone because of the way Hollywood handles salary negotiations. According to Stone...

In my career so far, I've needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them. And that's something they do for me because they feel it's what's right and fair. That's something that's also not discussed, necessarily---that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, 'That's what's fair.' If my male co-star, who has a higher quote than me but believes we are equal, takes a pay cut so that I can match him, that changes my quote in the future and changes my life.

Hollywood works on a system of "quotes." This is essentially looking back at what actors have been paid in the past and then making the offers for new films based on that. As Emma Stone explains to Out, this means that it's important to her long-term success that producers of new films see that she has a history of being paid just as much as her male co-stars. Therefore, whatever the studio is planning to pay the male lead, they need to be ready to offer her as well. This is why having the male lead that was previously getting paid more take a cut is important.

And it's great to see that many men in Hollywood are willing to take this step. They see that it's the right thing to do and they're willing to take the hit to show that they know it's the right thing to do. The fact that it's apparently easier to get the actor to take the cut than it is to get the studio to give the raise they should is unfortunate, if unsurprising.

Of course, Emma Stone only asks the actors who are doing the equivalent work to take the cut. She makes it clear that she's not asking leading actors to take cuts to match what she would make in a supporting role. We're talking about equal pay for equal work.

Hopefully, more male co-stars will be willing to do this for more movies and the pay disparity between men and women can start to disappear for good.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.

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