*Chadwick Boseman fought for Sienna Miller to be compensated fairly on their film “21 Bridges.”
In a new interview with Empire, Miller opens up about her involvement with the 2019 action thriller and why the late “Black Panther” star donated part of his salary to boost her rate.
“I didn’t know whether or not to tell this story, and I haven’t yet. But I am going to tell it, because I think it’s a testament to who he was,” the actress said, noting that at the time he approached her about joining the production she “really didn’t want to work anymore.”
“I’d been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him,” she added. But when the studio refused to meet her salary demands, Boseman stepped in.
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“This was a pretty big budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to. And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way,’ ” she explained. “And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”
“It was about the most astounding thing that I’ve experienced,” she added. “That kind of thing just doesn’t happen. He said, ‘You’re getting paid what you deserve, and what you’re worth.’ It’s just unfathomable to imagine another man in that town behaving that graciously or respectfully.”
Boseman died on Aug. 28 following a years-long battle with colon cancer. He was 43.
“In the aftermath of this I’ve told other male actor friends of mine that story and they all go very, very quiet and go home and probably have to sit and think about things for a while,” Miller tells Empire. “But there was no showiness, it was, ‘Of course I’ll get you to that number, because that’s what you should be paid.'”
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