People in Hollywood have been shining a light on the pay gap in recent years, with actors of all genders speaking up about their experiences with inequality. Sienna Miller recently shared a story about her own battle with salary disparity and how Chadwick Boseman helped her fight for fairness.
Miller told her story in an issue of Empire Magazine that was entirely dedicated to the life and work of the late “Black Panther” star, filled with tributes from many people in the industry.
Talking about the 2019 crime drama, “21 Bridges,” which the pair starred in and Boseman produced, Miller said Boseman had been “really active” in trying to get her to co-star with him in the project.
“He was a fan of my work, which was thrilling, because it was reciprocated from me to him, tenfold,” Miller told journalist Alex Godfrey. “So he approached me to do it, he offered me this film, and it was at a time when I really didn’t want to work anymore. I’d been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him.”
However, Miller had trouble negotiating her contract for the movie, getting stonewalled when it came to her salary. At that point, Boseman got involved and gave Miller some of his own salary to ensure his co-star got what she was asking for.
“I think it’s a testament to who he was,” Miller said. “This was a pretty big-budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to. And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way.’ And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”
Godfrey tweeted a link to the story he wrote after talking to “an emotional” Miller and said it was “a story she particularly wanted to tell.”
A couple of weeks ago I spoke to an emotional Sienna Miller about working with Chadwick on 21 Bridges. This is a story she particularly wanted to tell.https://t.co/1w0b8HB9Wb
— Alex Godfrey (@MrGodfrey) September 28, 2020
Since Boseman’s death, numerous stories of his generosity have been shared by the people who knew him. He was apparently known for giving lots of time and attention to his fans, including visiting children’s hospitals on his press tours for the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies he was best known for.
In 2018, he gave his MTV Movie & TV Award for best hero in a movie to James Shaw Jr., who was responsible for stopping the gunman in a shooting at a Tennessee Waffle House that killed four people.
Miller’s story only goes to further show how much of a real-life hero Boseman was in his 43 years of life.
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