Well, even those big blockbuster IP franchise films aren’t leading to actors making bank — least not the lead stars. After Elijah Wood recently echoed his fellow “LOTR” co-stars Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom about his hobbit sized salary for the trilogy, former Marvel actress Carrie Coon is revealing that audiences would be shocked by how little even MCU ensemble actors make.
Coon’s spouse, actor and playwright Tracy Letts, recently said during “The Big Picture” podcast that Coon opted to not reprise her “Infinity War” voiceover and motion capture role of Proxima Midnight for “Avengers: Endgame” after Marvel was not going to increase Coon’s salary for the sequel appearance. According to Letts, Marvel told Coon that she “should feel fortunate to be part of the Marvel Universe” at all. Coon and Letts have still never seen “Infinity War” or “Endgame” due to the pay dispute.
“The White Lotus” star is now speaking out on the experience, and hinting that lowball offers are more commonplace than expected even at Marvel.
“I think people operate under a tremendous misunderstanding about what we’re paid in those circumstances. I think if people knew, I think they’d be surprised, and wouldn’t be surprised at the decision I made,” Coon told Variety. “The lesson there is that my time is more valuable elsewhere. And so I part ways with this company, everybody amicably, because my time, especially as a person with a family, is more valuable than that. So it’s purely a business decision. I think that those comments are probably less sexist than they are just an indicator of where the movie industry was heading. IP was driving the industry at that time. Maybe we’re having a shift. Maybe we’re having a swing back.”
As for whether or not a male actor would be treated the same (MCU alum Scarlett Johansson famously sued Disney amid the rollout of her standalone film “Black Widow”), Coon maintained that it is not a “sexist” pay decision from Marvel, but rather just how the conglomerate operates.
“I’ll say, I’m sure men are told that,” she said. “It’s more about is what’s driving our industry — like you should be lucky to be part of this engine that is making money in our industry. Here’s the metaphor: Let’s say you’re starting off in a business and get an entry-level position and are given an entry-level salary. You work in that business for 10 years, you’re no longer making an entry-level salary, and then an amazing company comes to you and says, ‘We think you’re great, and we would like to hire you.’ And you say, ‘Fantastic. I this is an amazing company. I’d love to work for you.’ But they’re only going to pay you your entry-level salary. You decide it’s a great company, I’ll give it a shot. And then you work for them and they extend your contract. You say, ‘Wonderful. Can I expect to receive a salary commensurate with my experience?’ And the company says, ‘No, I’m sorry. We can only pay your entry-level salary.’”
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