OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
“Jurassic World” actress Bryce Dallas Howard is complaining that she received “so much less” in payment than her A-list co-star Chris Pratt.
Howard was reportedly paid $8 million for “Jurassic World: Dominion” compared to Pratt’s $10 million.
Critics quickly responded to Howard by arguing Pratt is a household name and the most prominent character in the film.
“No offense to her,” one person responded. “But I wouldn’t pay to see a movie just because she’s in it.”
“I didn’t even know who she was till the series,” another person said. “Pratt was a household name before that.”
Nonetheless, Howard pushed the left-wing narrative that unequal pay is due to gender discrimination. Many others have also discussed the topic of unequal pay between men and women in Hollywood.
In 2021, actress Scarlett Johansson, who is the highest-paid actress in the industry, said, “As a woman, you have to be [your own ally] all the time. Because we are undermined, and underserved, and under-appreciated, and underpaid – you have to be your own ally.”
Johansson continued, “Equal pay is a huge part of that fight. Even when I was a teenager in the industry or a young woman, I should say, my mom would have those conversations. Like, ‘Why is she not getting (paid the same)?’”
“There was always these little key terms, like, ‘bankability,’ and ‘box office draw.’ Those are all terms that are basically masquerading as sexism,” Johansson said. “It never had anything to do with those things. And if there ever was, it was also part of this systemic issue that a woman could not be as bankable or have a box office draw.”
Howard explained, “The reports were so interesting because I was paid so much less than the reports even said, so much less. When I started negotiating for ‘Jurassic,’ it was 2014 and it was a different world, and I was at a great disadvantage. And, unfortunately, you have to sign up for three movies and so your deals are set.”
“What I will say is that Chris and I have discussed it, and whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn’t been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he literally told me, ‘You guys don’t even have to do anything. I’m gonna do all the negotiating. We’re gonna be paid the same and you don’t have to think about this, Bryce,’” the actress said.
“And I love him so much for doing that. I really do, because I’ve been paid more for those kinds of things than I ever was for the movie,” she added.