Rogue One: Why the Star Wars film is a watershed moment for gender pay equality in Hollywood
The first of the Star Wars anthology films explores the stealing of the Death Star plans mentioned in the opening crawl of A New Hope
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Your support makes all the difference.Rogue One appears to have made the rare (and deeply welcome) move of actually paying its female star her dues.
The Hollywood Reporter has sources which state Felicity Jones, who plays lead Jyn Erso in the film, was by far the highest-paid cast member on the production; with her 2015 Oscar nomination for The Theory of Everything allowing her to negotiate a seven-figure upfront salary for the Star Wars film. Her co-stars, including major players Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn, negotiated less than mid-six figure salaries.
It's being reported as something of a watershed moment for gender pay equality in Hollywood, especially after the publicity that came out the particularly notorious example unveiled by the Sony hack; in which American Hustle stars Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams earned less than their co-stars Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, and Christian Bale - despite having an equal or greater box office draw.
Jones is also the only star who appears to have a sequel option in her contract; though Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has stated Rogue One is a stand alone property that won't be receiving a follow-up.
Rogue One follows a wayward band of Rebel fighters brought together for one improbable mission: steal the plans for the Death Star. These events, of course, directly link into the first scenes of A New Hope; when Princess Leia is seen concealing the plans in R2-D2 before she's captured by the Galactic Empire.
The film largely centres around Jones' Jyn : a criminal misfit who becomes entangled in the Rebellion's ambitious, and resolutely dangerous, schemes. Donnie Yen, Jian Wen, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, and Mads Mikkelsen also star.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in cinemas now.
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