In late 2017, a hubbub swirled up from the Land of the Beautiful People: A new actor had been hired to replace condemned star Kevin Spacey for the film All the Money in the World. This was, oddly, after shooting for the movie had wrapped.

In order to put a new person in the role (in this case, the great Christopher Plummer), of course, reshoots were required.

Cut to moderate star Michelle Williams being paid less than $1,000 total — just $80 per day — for the redos, while gigantic global movie star Mark Wahlberg racked up a cool $1.5 million.

Upon learning the news, some ladies in Tinseltown gasped.

And considering Hollywood’s penchant for left-wing politics, that made a bit of sense: Capitalism is about competition in the marketplace. Communism is about theft and handouts; it pays no attention to market value.

Therefore, according to far-left notions, apparently, some chick in a movie should make the same as some dude.

Regardless.

Equal pay!

Michelle (who I like as an actress) is keeping the dream alive: Just this week, in honor of Equal Pay Day, she took the centerstage in Washington as an advocate for the Paycheck Fairness Act. And she confessed to being “paralyzed” upon learning she hadn’t made the same as Marky Mark (who I especially like — here and here):

“It’s the kind of story I would normally resist: the morality tale with a happy ending, or rather a happy beginning because that’s really why I’m here. There won’t be satisfaction for me until I can exhaust my efforts ensuring that all women experience the elevation of their self-worth and its connection to the elevation of their market worth.

“In late 2017, the news broke that I’d been paid less than $1,000 compared to the $1.5 million that my male counterpart had received for the exact same amount of work. And guess what, no one cared. This came as no surprise to me, it simply reinforced my life-learned belief that equality is not an inalienable right and that women would always be working just as hard for less money while shouldering more responsibility in their homes. When the news passed as quickly as it had broken I sat paralyzed in feelings of futility.”

Oh boy.

Respectfully, here’s a bit of information for Michelle — who began acting professionally at the age of 13: When she was paid $80 a day, that was actually much closer to “equal pay” than her usual income. Most women — heck, most people — make closer to that amount, daily, than to the thousands earned by actors. So in honor of her $80, I say, “Welcome to the normal world.” Welcome to being more…equal.

And welcome to the concept of competition in the marketplace — which is how movies are able to make millions, which is how you’re usually able to make thousands per day.

And as part of that competition, Mark Wahlberg has greater value than you. A lot greater.

Actors are paid according to the amount they can demand, which is to say, their perceived market value. Mark was the highest paid actor of 2017 — because his movies consistently draw gigantic return. When he’s put onscreen, a massive number of people around the planet buy tickets. Not so with the vast majority of actors, including Michelle Williams.

Why isn’t this obvious to all the #MeToo’ers in La-La Land, making as much in a week as some people earn in a year?

Mark also rolled in the dough via the reshoots because his contract didn’t commit him to any. Therefore, they had to be separately negotiated.

Smart move. He should be congratulated on his (and his agent’s) business savvy.

But he didn’t keep it: In response to the equal pay brouhaha at the time, Mark took his $1.5 and donated it all to the Time’s Up legal defense fund. In Michelle’s name.

Just read in @THR that Mark Wahlberg is donating the $1.5 million he made and WME is donating an additional $500k to #TIMESUP in Michelle Williams name. Amazing. The lesson here is that pressure for equal pay works.

— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) January 13, 2018

But he’ll probably be okay: He’s worth $255 million.

Michelle’ll be fine, too: She’s signed up to make a lot more than you as we speak, in the cinematic splash This is Jane, about an underground pro-abortion group in the 60’s and 70’s. Michelle will produce and play the illegally-aborting organization’s founder, Jenny.

We’ll see if — in the name of equal pay — she’ll decide to split her earnings evenly with everyone else on set — including the crew members, who work substantially longer hours than actors while being paid profoundly less.

By the way: I recommend checking out All the Money in the World. It’s based on a true story, interesting, and very well done. Did you see it? What’d you think?

-Alex

Relevant RedState links in this article: here and here.

See 3 more pieces from me: an emotional reunion, Michael Jackson’s director speaks out, and The Jerk.

Find all my RedState work here.

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