Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free
Taraji P Henson has claimed she was paid less than 2 per cent of Brad Pitt’s salary for her Oscar-nominated turn in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button .
The Empire star, who will soon be seen in awards contender Hidden Figures , has written candidly about the lack of opportunities for black actors in her new memoir Around the Way Girl , explaining that they are forced to “dive for the crumbs of the scraps” in a bid to bag meaty roles.
“The math really is pretty simple: there are way more talented black actresses than there are intelligent, meaningful roles for them and we’re consistently charged with diving for the crumbs of the scraps, lest we starve,” she wrote, adding that she accepted a minimal pay packet to play Pitt’s adoptive mother in David Fincher’s 2008 movie because she knew that if she asked for more, she would quickly be replaced.
“This is exactly how a studio can get away with paying the person who’s name is third on the call sheet of a big-budget film less than 2 per cent what it’s paying the person whose name is listed first,” she continued. “I knew the stakes: no matter how talented, no matter how many accolades my prior work had received, if I pushed for more money, I’d be replaced and no one would so much as blink.”
Henson has said that, as well as receiving “the equivalent of sofa change” on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button compared with Pitt and fellow lead Cate Blanchett’s “millions”, she had to pay her own hotel expenses during three months of shooting in New Orleans.
But the discrimination allegedly didn’t end there, with the 46-year-old also claiming that she lost the role of a pregnant Russian sex worker in Bill Murray’s St Vincent to Naomi Watts, despite writer and director Ted Melfi having written it “specifically” for her. “I couldn’t get served at that particular restaurant,” Henson wrote. “Someone with the ability to green-light a film couldn’t see black women beyond a very limited purview he or she thought ‘fit’ audience expectations.”
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to sayShow all 19 1 /19#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Jada Pinkett-Smith “Today is Martin Luther King’s birthday, and I can’t help but ask the question: Is it time that people of color recognize how much power and influence we have amassed that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere? I ask the question: Have we come to a new time and place where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledge, or respect of any group?” - Posted on her Facebook page.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Will Smith "The beauty of Hollywood combined with American ideals is the ultimate dream for humanity: the basis of the American concept of anything is possible, with hard work and dedication, no matter your race or religion, creed, none of that matters in America. I think that diversity is the American superpower. That's why we are great. So many different people from so many different places adding their ideas and their inspiration and their influences to this beautiful American gumbo and for me, at its best, Hollywood represents and then creates the imagery for that beauty. But for my part, I think I have to fight for and protect the ideals that make our country and make our Hollywood community great. So when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it's not reflecting that beauty." - Quote from ABC News appearance.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Reese Witherspoon "I really appreciated this article in TIME on the lack of racial and gender diversity in this year's Oscar nominations. So disappointed that some of 2015's best films, filmmakers and performances were not recognized... Nothing can diminish the quality of their work, but these filmmakers deserve recognition. As an Academy member, I would love to see a more diverse voting membership." - Posted on her Facebook page.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Spike Lee "This whole Academy thing is a misdirection play. We're chasing a guy down the field, he doesn't even have the ball. The other guy's high-stepping in the end zone. It goes further than the Academy Awards. It has to go back to the gatekeepers. We're not in the room. The executives, when they have these greenlight meetings quarterly, they look at the scripts and see who's in it and decide what we're making and what we're not making." - Quote from ABC appearance.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say George Clooney "If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated. I would also make the argument, I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films? There should be 20 or 30 or 40 films of the quality that people would consider for the Oscars. By the way, we’re talking about African Americans. For Hispanics, it’s even worse. We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it." - Interview with Variety.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Snoop Dogg “Somebody was actually like am I gonna watch the motherf***ing Oscars. F*** no. What the f*** am I going to watch that bulls*** for? They ain’t got no n***** nominated. All these great movies and all this great s*** ya’ll keep stealing from us. F*** you! F*** you!” - Posted on his Instagram page.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Don Cheadle "Yo, Chris. Come check me out at #TheOscars this year. They got me parking cars on G level." - Posted on his Twitter page, directed at host Chris Rock.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Mark Ruffalo “I woke up in the morning thinking, ‘what is the right way to do this?’ Because if you look at Martin Luther King’s legacy, what he was saying was that the good people who don’t act are much worse than the wrongdoers who are purposefully not acting and don’t know the right way.” - Quote from interview with BBC News.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Lupita Nyong'o "I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations. It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture. The awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today. I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them." - Posted on her Instagram page.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Tyrese Gibson "This is not us saying we're against the Oscars because we're gonna combat racism. We're just saying, 'Yo, this is not cool.' You can't be doing this in 2016 and act as if no one is gonna notice." - Quote from interview with People.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say David Oyelowo “The reason why the Oscars are so important is because it is the zenith, it is the epitome, it is the height of celebration of artistic endeavor within the filmmaking community. We grow up aspiring, dreaming, longing to be accepted into that august establishment because it is the height of excellence. I would like to walk away and say it doesn’t matter, but it does, because that acknowledgement changes the trajectory of your life, your career, and the culture of the world we live in. This institution doesn’t reflect its president and it doesn’t reflect this room. I am an Academy member and it doesn’t reflect me, and it doesn’t reflect this nation." - Speech at gala honoring Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Brie Larson "Thank you @hollywoodreporter for covering this very unique moment in my life! It was wonderful spending time with all of you. Personally, I'm interested in reading their article on #OscarsSoWhite. This is a conversation that deserves attention." - Posted on her Instagram page.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say “How many black films are being produced every year? How are they being distributed? The films that are being made, are the big-time producers thinking outside of the box in terms of how to cast the role? Can you cast a black woman in that role? Can you cast a black man in that role? You can change the Academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for?” - Quote from interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Charlotte Rampling "It is racist to whites. One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list. Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted... People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’... someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that]... But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?" - Quote from interview on Europe 1.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Michael Caine “There’s loads of black actors. In the end you can't vote for an actor because he's black. You can't say 'I'm going to vote for him, he's not very good, but he's black, I'll vote for him'. You have to give a good performance and I'm sure people have. I saw Idris Elba (in Beasts Of No Nation).I thought he was wonderful. Be patient. Of course it will come. It took years to get an Oscar, years.” - Quote from interview with Radio 4 Today programme.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Steve McQueen "This is exactly like MTV was in the 1980s. Could you imagine now if MTV only showed music videos by a majority of white people, then after 11 o’clock it showed a majority of black people? Could you imagine that happening now? It’s the same situation happening in the movies. Hopefully, when people look back at this in 20 years, it’ll be like seeing that David Bowie clip in 1983 [of artist critiquing channel for not featuring black artists]. I don’t even want to wait 20 years. Forgive me; I’m hoping in 12 months or so we can look back and say this was a watershed moment, and thank God we put that right." Quote from interview with The Guardian.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Julie Delpy "Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media. It's funny - women can't talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don't bash them afterwards. It's the hardest to be a woman. Feminism is something people hate above all. Nothing worse than being a woman in this business. I really believe that." Delpy has since clarified these remarks, saying, "I'm very sorry for how I expressed myself. It was never meant to diminish the injustice done to African American artists or to any other people that struggle for equal opportunities and rights; on the contrary. All I was trying to do is to address the issues of inequality of opportunity in the industry for women as well (as I am a woman)."
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Clint Eastwood "I don't know anything about it. All I know is there's thousands of people in the Academy, and the majority of them haven't won Oscars. A lot of people are crying, I guess." - Quoted by TMZ.
Getty
#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Ellen Page “It’s awful, and I think what just happened in regards to the nominations two years in a row is a reflection of the industry itself, and the lack of diversity in all positions. It’s so upsetting that we’re still having this conversation. I don’t know what to say other than it’s so disheartening, and I feel like we all have to be doing what we can to make a change, because we’re supposed to be telling stories that reflect human experience, and we can’t just be showing one group of people." Quote from interview with The Wrap.
Getty
Henson, who won a Golden Globe for her performance as Cookie in Empire earlier this year, will be hoping for industry acknowledgement when Hidden Figures reaches cinemas in February. She plays the lead as Katherine G Johnson, one of the genius black scientists who worked at Nasa in the Sixties and helped launch astronaut John Glenn into space in 1962.
Elsewhere, Hollywood diversity remains a huge issue, with the Academy taking steps to diversify their membership and prevent another #OscarsSoWhite controversy after two consecutive years of all-white acting nominations.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies