Jessica Chastain ‘Walks the Walk’ When It Comes to Gender Equality

The leading lady in Molly’s Game helped Octavia Spencer get a major pay raise.

After taking the stage at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Octavia Spencer shared how Jessica Chastain helped her make five times her asking salary. While speaking with the panel, Spencer goes on to say how their conversations turned towards the lack of equality in Hollywood many months prior to the TimesUp Movement.

Around 19 minutes and 30 seconds into this video, Spencer explained that around March of last year, Chastain approached her to talk about a comedy project and pay equity. During this “Women Breaking Barriers” panel, Spencer explained to the crowd how Chastain negotiated equal pay for The Shape of Water actress.

Spencer shared how they had previously discussed the issues of intersectionality, and said, “And then I said, ‘But here’s the thing, women of color on that spectrum, we make far less than white women. So, if we’re gonna have that conversation about pay equity, we gotta bring the women of color to the table.’ And I told her my story, and we talked numbers, and she was quiet, and she said she had no idea that that’s what it was like for women of color.”