Years from now, I’ll probably sit down and binge-watch every season of House of Cards over one summer. For now though, I’m not watching it. I’ve heard all of the good things about it, and I know I would probably like it, so it’s more like I just haven’t gotten into it YET. I’ve always been familiar with the structure of the show and its portrait of a modern political marriage, a marriage based on necessity, respect, ice-cold bitchery and shared political goals. But I always felt pretty certain that Kevin Spacey was “the lead” and Robin Wright (who plays his wife) was a supporting player. But that wasn’t so. At least not in Robin’s mind. So she went in to producers and demanded equal pay to Spacey. And she got it!
Robin Wright says she demanded to paid the same amount as co-star Kevin Spacey for her work on the Netflix series House of Cards—and even said that if she were denied her request, she would go public about it. The 50-year-old actress made her comments during a discussion about human rights and equality at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City Tuesday.
“I was like, ‘I want to be paid the same as Kevin,'” The Huffington Post quoted Wright as saying. “It was the perfect paradigm. There are very few films or TV shows where the male, the patriarch, and the matriarch are equal. And they are in House of Cards.”
“I was looking at the statistics and Claire Underwood’s character was more popular than [Frank’s] for a period of time,” she said. “So I capitalized on it. I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public.’ And they did.”
House of Cards showrunners and Netflix have not commented. In addition to her leading acting role, Wright also serves as an executive producer on the political drama series and has also directed several episodes. Women working full-time in the United States only make about 79 percent of what men earn, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
“It’s not about learning, it’s about unlearning,” Wright said, according to the Rockefeller Foundation, adding that mothers face “significant natural barriers” in the workplace.
I don’t hate this. Even if Robin’s role in the show waxes and wanes, she’s sort of right about the popularity of her character, and how people are tuning in to see Robin do her thing. Plus… and I don’t want to sound mean or anything, but I really don’t imagine that Kevin Spacey’s paychecks were that much larger than hers. This is a (popular) show on Netflix, not network TV. I’m sure Spacey was/is making good money (he’s an executive producer too), but Spacey does the show because he likes the work, not because the paychecks are amazing. And as EP, I would be willing to bet that Spacey was like, “Yeah, Robin should get the same.” So kudos to the producers for hearing Robin’s demand and giving her what she was owed.
Photos courtesy House of Cards, WENN.
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