Mark Wahlberg shamed into donating to Time’s Up fund
For all the lip service a lot of guys have done in Hollywood lately about Time’s Up, very few seem especially motivated to make real changes. This Mark Wahlberg saga over All the Money in the World has really annoyed me.
To recap, Kevin Spacey got cut from the film after people finally started paying attention to sexual allegations against him. Director Ridley Scott reshot the film with Christopher Plummer. In the name of solidarity, the cast did the reshoots for free/minimal pay.
All that is, except for Wahlberg, who reportedly held the film reshoots up for $1.5 million. Wahlberg’s co-star, Michelle Williams, reportedly received a per diem of about $1,000.
After a ton of negative press, Wahlberg spoke up and announced he was using his pay for a good cause.
[irp]
‘Over the last few days my reshoot fee for All the Money in the World has become an important topic of conversation. I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I’m donating the $1.5M to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams’ name,’ Wahlberg said in a statement.
Wahlberg’s delayed response seems more like a clumsy attempt to save face. If Wahlberg really supported the fight for fair pay, maybe he should have talked to Williams about her salary. Or not wait days after public sentiment turned against him to try and buy silence.
The real issue here is Walhberg knew all along he received that money. He could negotiate whatever the studio was willing to pay him even if no one else knew. Williams was in the dark about Wahlberg’s cash grab despite the pair being represented by the same agency, William Morris Endeavor. The only catch is while Scott and the rest of the cast dutifully talked about finishing the project without worrying about payment, Wahlberg was silent.
It’s that same silence that led to the toxic culture in Hollywood where so many guys in positions of power felt untouchable. That whole mentality of that’s just the way it’s always been done can’t cut it anymore. For all the show of unity and talk of support at Sunday’s Golden Globes, it’s clear Hollywood needs a systemic overhaul in order to create the change its movers and shakers continue to say it endorses.