‘If I was ‘Oliver’ Colman, I’d be earning a f**k of a lot more than I am!’
Olivia Colman has criticised the gender pay gap in the film industry, claiming she would have been paid more in her career if she was a man.
Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about her latest movie, Wicked Little Letters, the Oscar-winning actor said men get paid more because they were historically considered bigger box office draws.
But she said this hadn’t been the case for decades.
She said: “Research suggests that [women have] always been big box office draws,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour programme.
“Don’t get me started on the pay disparity but male actors get paid more because they used to say they draw in the audiences and actually, that hasn’t been true for decades. But they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much.
Colman went on to say that she is “very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a f**k of a lot more than I am,”, adding that she knows of “one pay disparity which is a 12,000% difference.”
“Do the maths,” she added.
Earlier this month, Forbes named Adam Sandler the highest paid actor of 2023. He earned $73m (£57.3m) thanks to his Netflix film Murder Mystery 2 and his standup comedy tour.
He finished ahead of Margot Robbie in second ($59m), but the only other woman in the top 10 was Jennifer Aniston, who starred opposite Sandler in the comedy.
This is the second time in recent weeks that Colman has discussed the different ways that men and women are treated in life.
In an interview with the Radio Times last month, Colman said people still act shocked when a woman swears.
She told the publication: “Today, there are [still] comments on what women should look like. If a woman swears, people act shocked. F**k off! Women are human – funny, filthy, loving, caring – just like men.”
Wicked Little Letters is a comedy which tells the real-life story of a group of women in a seaside town who are targeted by a series of expletive-laden letters.
The film sees Colman star as Edith Swan, alongside Jessie Buckley who plays foul-mouthed Irish migrant Rose Gooding.
This is the latest major role for Colman in a career that has seen her win a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Queen Anne in 2018 film, The Favourite.
She received another nomination for the same award in 2022 after her performance in The Lost Daughter, which also featured Buckley.
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