Emma Stone has worked with quite the enviable roster of male costars, including my favorites Andrew Garfield and Ryan Gosling, and now she’s hinted at the awesomeness of them and other men she’s starred alongside. Hello Giggles reports that Stone revealed in an interview that her male costars have taken pay cuts in order for her to receive equal pay. Bravo, guys!
“In my career so far, I’ve needed male costars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them,” Stone said in a discussion with tennis star Billie Jean King, who she plays in the upcoming film Battle of the Sexes. “And that’s something they do for me because they felt it’s what’s right and fair. That’s something that’s also not discussed, necessarily—that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, ‘That’s what’s fair.’”
Of course, Stone recognized that many women are not as fortunate as her with the generosity of the men she’s worked with. “It’s not about, ‘Women are this and men are that,’” she shared. “It is, ‘We are all the same, we are all equal, we all deserve the same respect and the same rights.’ And that’s really what I’ve been so grateful for with male costars—when I’ve been in a similar-size role in films, and it’s been multiple people who have been really incredible and said, ‘That’s what I want to do. That’s what’s fair and what’s right.’”
Although the state of unequal pay is still pretty frustrating, it’s amazing to know that there are prime Hollywood actors out there that totally get how much of an issue this is for women. Kudos to Stone for bringing their good deeds to attention.