Hilary Swank has hit out at Hollywood saying that a male counterpart would be paid ten times what she does for the same job.
Swank is one of the biggest and most successful actresses of her generation with two Best Actress Oscar already under her belt - willing for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby. And yet she feels that Hollywood still favour men and says that there are more roles out there for men than women.
Speaking to an audience of students at the Loyola Marymount University School of Film & TV, the actress said: “My male counterpart will get paid 10 times more than me - 10 times. Not double, but 10 times for the same job.
“We only have this much left for the female actress. I mean, there’s two genders on this Earth. Both are compelling, interesting, diverse, wonderful in all their own separate ways. And yet there’s an influx of male roles and there’s just not for women.”
The argument over great roles from women vs. great roles for men has long since raged in Hollywood, and Swank is just the latest leading lady to wade into the argument. However, it is fair to say that there are fewer female led films hitting the big screen then there are female led projects.
As for Swank, she will be back on the big screen in the UK this week as she teams up with Tommy Lee Jones for The Homesman: Jones is also in the director’s chair as well as in front of the camera with this project.
The Western will see Swank take on the central role of Mary Bee Cuddy, and see her and Jones star alongside Meryl Streep, William Fichtner, John Lithgow, Grace Gummer, and Miranda Otto.
The Homesman has already been met well by critics in the U.S. and Swank is being tipped as a possible outsider for a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her central performance in the movie.
