Director Ridley Scott reportedly didn't know that Mark Wahlberg was pocketing millions of dollars for the "All The Money in the World" reshoots. He feels angry and "hung out to dry" about being in the dark, especially considering the pay discrepancy between the film's two stars.
TMZ reported that Mark had producers "over a barrel" and demanded $1.5 million for the 10-day reshoot, which was necessary after Kevin Spacey was booted from the film and replaced with Christopher Plummer. The Washington Post reported that Mark actually made $2 million for the reshoots.
The website indicated that Michelle Williams was the first person approached by producers — not Ridley — about reshoots after Kevin's ouster. She immediately agreed and said she'd basically do it for free. She was reportedly paid $80 a day, which was the per diem.
Ridley then flew to London to approach Mark about reshooting scenes for the film, which he agreed to do, but there was reportedly no mention of money. After that, though, Mark's people went to work on compensation.
TMZ said that his reps and the two primary financiers for the movie had discussions, and Mark reps said the actor "never" works for free. The financiers very quickly found out that Mark would not be giving any kind of discount for the reshoots. The money people — aka, the producers — had no choice but to give him what he wanted, otherwise the film would likely never be released, or it would have to be filmed all over again with new actors, which is particularly costly.
Ridley, according to TMZ, was never in on the money discussions, which is not uncommon, and was under the the understanding that the actors were all reshooting for free or the per diem. He's even quoted as saying that actors all did the reshoots for free, because that's the information he had. Ridley feels "betrayed and angry," the report said.
Hollywood has been up in arms all week after hearing about the massive pay discrepancy between Michelle and Mark. Interestingly, both are represented by the same agency, so it's highly likely that several people knew of the pay difference.