CULTURE

Julianne Moore Opens Up About the Gender Pay Gap and, No, She Does Not Get Equal Pay

Even though she has five Oscar nods and one statue.


"The Staggering Girl" Photocall - The 72nd Annual Cannes Film Festival
Jacopo Raule/FilmMagic

Julianne Moore may be one of the most respected actresses of her generation, and a red carpet staple, but she isn’t being compensated for it in her work. The actress recently opened up about her own experience with the gender pay gap and confirmed that she “definitely” is not getting equal pay.

When asked whether or not she makes as much as her male costars, Moore told The Telegraph with a laugh, “Oh, no! Definitely not.” The actress, who is currently at Cannes Film Festival to promote her new film with Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, called The Staggering Girl, explained that when she does indie films she is fairly compensated—but that’s mostly because her paycheck comes from the film’s profits, like with the rest of the cast, rather than a sum she’s offered upfront to do the film. “In terms of other films, obviously it’s hierarchical,” she continued, “So if there are people who have bigger parts and are bigger stars, they’ll be paid more. But I think the question everyone is asking is, well, even if it is hierarchical, and you have actors of equal stature and equal parts, then they should be paid the same. But obviously it’s very challenging.”

Moore recently offered a solution she sees to the gender pay gap, telling a crowd at Cannes, per Time, that “We will not have gender parity unless everybody is cooperating. Women are not a special interest group. ‘In order to restore the balance, I do think that there will be, that we will need some measures to change our culture. We will have to make major changes to reach parity. That’s just a fact. So, I do believe in quotas. I believe in trying to level the playing field for everybody regardless of their gender or their culture or ethnicity. You have to open doors.”

She offered a similar course of action back in 2017, telling Elle of the gender pay gap, “It’s not endemic to Hollywood. It’s something that’s happening all over the world in every profession. One of the things I think is silly is to make equality only about Hollywood, because it’s not a Hollywood issue; it’s a human issue… In my industry, we’re so overpaid and over-privileged that it’s silly to use us as an example of fair pay. Especially because we can use the whole world. Treat everyone equally. Period. That’s the issue.”