As the Sony hack continues to become a giant ad for Cyberdust, the communications app that erases messages after they’re read, it’s also revealing some ugly realities people thought giant movie stars didn’t have to contend with. It’s a well-known problem that women earn less than men for similar jobs throughout America, but who’d have thought megastars like Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams had to deal with that? (Yes, there’s a problem with gender equality in Hollywood–see Tina Fey’s definition of what a crazy woman is in show business–but with the biggest stars equality is a reasonable expectation.) Not so, apparently.
There’s a gender pay gap even at the highest levels. According to info released in the hack, Lawrence and her co-star Amy Adams got only 7 points on the backend compensation for American Hustle, while male co-stars Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper received 9 points each. The director, David O. Russell, also got 9 points.
