Now We Really Know The Reason Why Mark Wahlberg Got Paid More Than Michelle Williams

After the brouhaha that erupted when it was revealed that Mark Wahlberg received $1.5 million to take part in reshoots for “All the Money in the World,” while Michelle Williams got only $80 a day, totaling less than $1,000; after all the posturing by people that this was a case of rampant sexism, guess what? It had nothing to do with sexism, and everything to do with business: Wahlberg’s contract.

As The Wrap reports, someone familiar with Wahlberg’s deal revealed that Wahlberg made the huge sum because reshoots were not in his contract.

As The Wrap notes, Wahlberg’s character has many more scenes with Christopher Plummer, who replaced actor Kevin Spacey and plays J. Paul Getty. The source familiar with Wahlberg’s deal told The Wrap that prior to production, the film was financed through foreign pre-sales.

There were plenty of Hollywood celebrities who fulminated about the disparity between Wahlberg and Williams:

Wahlberg, who according to Forbes was the highest-paid actor in 2017, earning $68 million before taxes, took a gigantic pay cut to star in the film. The source told The Wrap that Wahlberg earned more for reshoots for two reasons: he had lowered his fee for the film and he is a huge box-office draw.

Director Ridley Scott had already revealed in a previous interview that returning cast members who appeared in the reshoots were not paid; only Plummer had to be paid. He stated, “No, I wouldn’t get paid, I refused to get paid. No, they all came in free. Christopher had to get paid. But Michelle, no. Me, no.” Wahlberg subsequently negotiated a fee for his reshoot services which Williams was not aware of.

Williams had said, “I said I’d be wherever they needed me, whenever they needed me. And they could have my salary, they could have my holiday, whatever they wanted. Because I appreciated so much that they were making this massive effort.”