Jennifer Lawrence has addressed the fact that she was paid less than Leonardo DiCaprio for their new film Don’t Look Up.
Netflix’s newest venture, which will also be released in cinemas next month, boasts an incredibly star-studded line-up, from Jonah Hill and Timothée Chalamet to Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett.
Jennifer, 31, and Leo, 47, lead the cast, with J-Law being the top-billed actor, but she was paid $5 million (£3.7m) less than the Titanic star, despite the script being written with her in mind.
Lawrence stated that she lobbied for top billing in the film’s credits and that DiCaprio was ‘gracious’ enough not to object. According to Variety, being the biggest star pairing of the year, $20 million paydays were the norm for both actors, DiCaprio received a reported $30 million salary and Lawrence a reported $25 million salary for the same.
“With being number one on the call sheet?” Lawrence told Variety, “Yeah. And I felt it was important that [the credits] reflect that. Leo was kind in his response. I believe we had something called Laverne & Shirley, which is a billing system they devised in which equal billing is given to both men and women. But I believe somewhere along the way, I kicked the stone a little harder, as if to say, ‘What if it wasn’t equal?'”
He was paid $30m (£22.4m), meaning Jennifer was paid 83 cents for every dollar given to Leo.
Lawrence is unconcerned about this. “Yeah, I noticed it too,” she said, adding “Look, Leo makes more money at the box office than I do. My arrangement has been really lucky for me, and I’m very pleased with it. In other cases, though, I’ve noticed—and I’m sure other women in the workforce have noticed as well—that asking about equal pay is exceedingly unpleasant. If you raise an issue that appears to be unfair, you’ll be told it’s not a gender issue, but they can’t tell you what it is.”
“Don’t Look Up” will be in select theaters starting December 10 and on Netflix on December 24. Lawrence also recently revealed in a post-screening Q&A that she went method and smoked weed during the filming of the movie because her character got high to calm her nerves.