“If I was Oliver Colman”: Olivia Colman speaks out about Hollywood pay disparity
The University of Huddersfield recently conducted a study into pay disparities within Hollywood and found what has now become known as the million-dollar gender gap. Olivia Colman, the star of Wicked Little Letters, has since offered anecdotal evidence to back that up.
The study found that even when all other factors are considered and controlled, there is still an ungrounded bias of 25% difference in pay between men and women in Hollywood’s film industry. This accounts for one million per movie.
Colman, who rose to stardom after starring in the British circuit in comedies such as Peep Show, claimed during an appearance on CNN’s The Amanpour Hour: “Don’t get me started on the pay disparity, but male actors get paid more because they used to say they drew in the audiences.”
Colman countered that by adding: “Actually, that hasn’t been true for decades, but they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much as their male counterparts”.
The Oscar-winner was recently featured in Poor Things, which evidences her point by turning a huge profit with a female lead, grossing over $112m from its $35m budget.
“I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a fuck of a lot more than I am,” she expanded while on The Amanpour Hour. “I know of one pay disparity, which is a 12,000% difference.” However, Colman refrained from going further than this claim.
It isn’t just pay where there is a gender disparity in Hollywood, either. A recent study found that 82.7% of movies set for release in 2024 will be directed by men. This under-representation in the most commanding roles underpins the pay issue to some extent, creating a power imbalance in the industry.
Colman joins an increasing chorus of female stars trying to address this issue by raising awareness. In 2023, Taraji P Henson spoke out on SiriusXM, explaining: “The math ain’t math-ing. And when you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole team behind us. They have to get paid.”
Watch Colman make her comments on The Amanpour Hour below.
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