In a panel at the 2018 Sundance Film Fest, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer disclosed how Jessica Chastain fought for her to make 5 times her usual salary on an upcoming film they are doing together.
Spencer said that the two had been discussing doing a comedy together for over a year. Chastain came to her in March with a project she was producing. When they started discussing pay, “she was like, ‘It’s time that women get paid the same as men!’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, Jessica! It’s time!’ We were dropping f-bombs and getting it all out there,” Spencer said.
Spencer also brought up a larger issue to Chastain–women of color making far less than white women in the entertainment industry. “I told her my story and we talked numbers and Chastain was quiet, and she had no idea that that’s what it was like for women of color,” Spencer remembered.