Now that women in Hollywood are coming forward to call out the industry’s long-standing, endlessly appalling gender pay gap – see: Michelle Williams, Crazy Rich Asians screenwriter Adele Lim et al – fans are finally seeing an ugly truth: that some of their favorite women actors (and other creatives) have been systematically paid less than their male counterparts. The latest example: Julie Delpy revealing she made less than Ethan Hawke for 1995’s Before Sunset and its 2004 sequel, Before Sunrise – both of which have been counted among the best romantic films of all time.
Read more: “Believe Her” – Michelle Williams Champions Equal Pay For Women At The Emmys
“As a woman, you know you’re paid less than a man as a writer or as a director or as an actress,” Delpy told Variety in an interview at the Zurich Film Festival. “On the Before movies, I think I was paid maybe a tenth of what Ethan was paid. The second movie I think I was paid half.” Never mind that Delpy co-wrote Before Sunset with Hawke and director Richard Linklater, and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for doing so.
For the third movie in the dreamy trilogy – 2013’s Before Midnight – Delpy says she insisted on equal pay. “I said, ‘Listen, guys, if I’m not paid the same, I’m not doing it.’”
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It could kill off some of the magic of the Before movies for fans: to know that, according to Delpy, in the storied creative collaboration between her, Hawke, and Linklater, she was paid the least for her work. On the bright side, while it’s unfortunate that it took decades, it’s nice to know that Delpy – finally – achieved parity. “I was very outspoken all of my life, and it gave me the reputation of being a pain in the ass,” Delpy – now 49 and directing a new film, My Zoe – told Variety. “I think of equality as something that should be a completely normal thing.”
This article was originally published by Vogue.com.
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