Actress Sienna Miller says Chadwick Boseman personally addressed the issue of pay disparity on their film 21 Bridges, by donating part of his salary to make sure she received the pay she “deserved.”
Boseman served as a producer on the 2019 crime thriller and played the role of NYPD detective Andre Davis. Miller portrayed narcotics detective Frankie Burns.
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In an interview for Empire magazine’s Chadwick Boseman tribute issue, Miller said the actor personally asked her to be in the film, then donated part of his salary after she “asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to.”
“I didn’t know whether or not to tell this story, and I haven’t yet. But I am going to tell it because 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.”
The longtime actress, whose other credits include American Sniper and Alfie, called Boseman’s generosity the “most astounding thing that I’ve experienced.”
“It’s just unfathomable to imagine another man in that town behaving that graciously or respectfully,” Miller said. “In the aftermath of this, I’ve told other male actor friends of mine that story, and they all go very, very quiet and go home and probably have to sit and think about things for a while.”
Boseman died at age 43 on Aug. 28, after a four-year battle with colon cancer.
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