Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman has hit out at gender pay disparity, saying she would get "paid more" if she was a man.
The multi-award winning British star, known for playing the late Queen Elizabeth in The Crown and for the Irish-produced film The Favourite as the 18th century monarch Anne, also dismissed suggestions that male actors encourage cinemagoers to watch movies.
Asked on CNN's Christiane Amanpour programme about women being taken more seriously in Hollywood, she said: "Research suggests that they’ve always been big box office draws… don’t get me started on the pay disparity but male actors get paid more because they used to say they draw in the audiences and actually, that hasn’t been true for decades.
"But they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much as their male counterparts."
She added: "I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Coleman, I’d be earning a f*** of a lot more than I am… I know of one pay disparity, which is a 12,000% difference… do the maths."
This month, Forbes named Adam Sandler as the highest paid actor of 2023.
Sandler raked in $73 million dollars (€63 million) following the success of his 2023 Netflix film Murder Mystery 2 and his stand-up comedy tour, according to the US business magazine’s annual list.
Australian actress Margot Robbie was the second highest earner, achieving $59 million (€54 million) for the year, following her starring role in blockbuster Barbie, which she also produced.
The only other woman to place in the top 10 was Friends star Jennifer Aniston, who was Sandler’s co-star in Murder Mystery 2. Aniston placed sixth by earning 42 million dollars (€38 million), Forbes said.
Tom Cruise placed third when he cashed in on the latest Mission: Impossible movie and managed to earn himself $45 million (€41million) in 2023 while Barbie star Ryan Gosling and Oppenheimer actor Matt Damon both placed fourth earning 43 million (€39 million).
Also in the top 10 was Killers Of The Flower Moon actor Leonardo DiCaprio, The Equalizer franchise star Denzel Washington, Expend4bles actor Jason Statham and Air director and actor Ben Affleck.
Source: Press Association
