Octavia Spencer On How Jessica Chastain Helped Her Get Paid Five Times More For Their New Film
Octavia Spencer became overcome with emotion as she revealed that Jessica Chastain helped her negotiate a salary five times higher than the one she had initially accepted for their upcoming movie together.
The Hollywood actresses, who both starred in 2011's Oscar-winning The Help, are currently working on a new comedy project with one another.
Speaking at a Sundance Film Festival panel, Spencer recalled a conversation she'd had last year with Chastain about pay equity between men and women.
The Shape of Water star revealed she then touched on the additional challenges that women of color face when it comes to being paid the same as their white female counterparts, which she said shocked Chastain into silence.
'Here's the thing: women of colour on that spectrum, we make far less than white women,' Spencer explained during the Women Breaking Barriers panel. 'If we're going to have that conversation about pay equity, we have to bring women of colour to the table.
'And I told her [Chastain] my story, and we talked numbers, and she was quiet, and she had no idea that that's what it was like for women of colour...'
After pausing to compose herself as she cried 'happy' tears, Spencer went on to praise Chastain for speaking out about parity in the industry and actually taking action to close the gender pay gap.
'I love that woman because she's walking the walk and actually talking the talk,' Spencer continued.
'She said, 'Octavia, we're going to get you paid on this film.' She said, 'we're going to be tied together, we're going to make the same thing, and you're going to make that amount'.
'And fast forward to last week, we're making five times what we asked for. And now I want what the men are making; I want to get there. But right now it feels good to be in that conversation.'
Spencer and Chastain will star in the comedy about two women battling against the elements as they try to make it home for the holidays.
Spencer recently received her third Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Shape of Water, after previously winning an Academy Award for her supporting part in The Help.
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