Yahoo Lifestyle Frances McDormand: What Women In Film Really Need Is Equal Pay
Frances McDormand at the Women In Film panel at Cannes. Photo: Getty Images
Frances McDormand has the answer for Hollywood’s woman problem. It’s not about establishing initiatives or encouraging more female filmmakers, she says. It’s a simple question of being paid the same as men.
“What we need is money,” McDormand told a panel in Cannes, where she was speaking as part of Kering’s Women In Film symposium, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
“We’re keeping the conversation back a little bit by saying we need help. We don’t need help. We need money. We need platforms, we need voices, but we don’t need help.”
Speaking frankly to panel moderator Alison Brower from The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-winning actress revealed that she has only been paid her asking price once in the duration of her career. And even then, she said, she received less than the male actors working on the film (Transformers 3).
“I worked very hard for that money, I’m very proud of my work. I’m glad I did that film and I’m proud that I finally got paid what I was told I was worth by the industry. But that is nothing. That is a tenth of what most males my age, with my experience and my reputation as a film actor make. We’ve never been paid commensurately and that has to change.”
McDormand also spoke about Cannes’ infamous “flatgate” (as The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it) saying that she prefers a sneaker.
“I think [Cannes organisers] think that flats are the road to ruin and I’m going to end up in [sneakers] on the red carpet… But we all know that Roger Vivier makes a beautiful flat that is more elegant than some of… these shoes women are wearing now. I say flats.”
Frances McDormand has spoken, and thus it shall be.
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