Patricia Arquette 'paid 50 percent less' than her 'Escape at Dannemora' co-star Benicio del Toro

Escape at Dannemora is a new true crime series led by Patricia Arquette but she is getting paid half as much as her male co-star Benicio del Toro.

That’s according to Variety who have revealed the wages for some of the highest paid TV stars working right now.

The report suggests that del Toro is being paid $400,000 per episode for the Showtime series, produced by Ben Stiller, while Arquette is getting $200,000 per episode for appearing in the same number.

The series centres on her character Tilly Mitchell, a prison employee who becomes romantically involved with two inmates – one of which is del Toro’s Richard Malt – and helps them escape.

It was just four years ago that the actress won an Oscar for her role in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and she has long been known on the small screen for her TV show Medium – that ran from 2005 to 2011 – and her sojourns in high profile shows Boardwalk Empire and CSI: Cyber.

Del Toro, also an Oscar winner, certainly has a higher profile thanks to his recent stints in both the Sicario and Star Wars franchises – as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe – but the gap between his and Arquette’s wage still draws attention to the wider gender wage gap problem rife in the film and TV industry.

It was only a few months ago when the spotlight was on The Crown and the revelation that Matt Smith had earned more money than Claire Foy despite the fact that she was playing the titular role.

There was also uproar after it was discovered that Mark Wahlberg had been paid approximately 1500 times as much as Michelle Williams for All the Money in the World, especially as they were represented by the same agency.

The conversation around the gender wage gap in Hollywood continues to grow louder with advocacy groups like Time’s Up working to end the discrimination and inequality that has long been the norm in the film industry as well as others.

Though it seems there is still a long way to go before that gap is closed completely.

Escape at Dannemora will premiere in the US on Showtime on 18 November.

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