Throughout Hollywood history, things have changed an awful lot. For example, over the last few decades, the amount of money that actors get paid for a single role has ballooned. In fact, in 2019, Dwayne Johnson was reportedly paid $87.5 Million during a pandemic which is a staggering amount of money, to say the very least.
Unfortunately, female movie stars have always been paid less than their male counterparts. For example, after the first male actor was paid $20 million to star in a single film, it took several years for a female movie star to receive the same amount of money for a role.
Of course, there have been several notable female movie stars over the years and it would have made sense for many of them to land a $20 million movie deal. That said, there was only one actor who was a big enough box office draw and in the running for the right role to be the first female actor to demand and get a $20 million paycheque. Unsurprisingly, Julia Roberts was the person to pull off that feat. Of course, that begs an obvious question, what was the movie that Roberts was first paid $20 million for?
Meager Beginnings
At this point in time, Julia Roberts has been a megastar for so long that it can be hard to remember that wasn’t always the case. For proof of how bankable Julia Roberts has become, all you have to do is look at reports that one particularly out-of-touch movie executive once wanted to cast Roberts as Harriet Tubman.
As anyone familiar with Julia Roberts’ career should already know, the film that turned her into a megastar was Pretty Woman. Even though Roberts wasn’t a huge star before appearing in that film, you may have assumed she was paid a fortune for the project since she played the movie’s main character. However, Hollywood doesn’t work that way. Instead, the studio heads typically decide how much money to pay an actor based on their box office track record.
According to reports, Julia Roberts was only paid $300,000 to star in Pretty Woman. Considering how much Roberts was paid for roles after that and how successful Pretty Woman would go on to be, that figure is pretty surprising. On top of that, Richard Gere was reportedly paid millions to star in Pretty Woman but that makes some sense since he was already a major movie star when he signed on to the film.
Cashing In
After the release of Pretty Woman, Jula Roberts became one of the most in-demand movie stars in the world. As a result, she was able to land lead roles in a long list of hit films including My Best Friend's Wedding, Stepmom, and Notting Hill among others. Because of Roberts’ long track record of box office success, by the time she negotiated a deal to star in Erin Brockovich, she was in the driver’s seat.
As reported by a Newsweek article from the year 2000, Julia Roberts was paid $20 million to star in Erin Brockovich and she was the first female actor to make that much for a film. In fact, according to that same Newsweek report, at that time Meg Ryan and Jodie Foster were the only two female actors to make a figure close to that much. That said, Foster and Ryan were still a pretty far way off from the mark as each of them had never been paid more than $15 million for a movie.
Following In Her Footsteps
When Julia Roberts managed to negotiate a $20 million deal for herself, that obviously was a momentous event in her life. However, for everyone who doesn’t get to enjoy the spoils of Roberts’ fortune, something much more important was going on. After all, it was a sign of Hollywood valuing at least one female actor a great deal.
Of course, anyone who tries to pretend that female movie stars are paid the same amount as their male counterparts is wrong. However, it is worth celebrating the fact that some female movie stars have begun to make a fortune for their work as well.
Most notably, Scarlett Johansson was reportedly paid $56 million in the year 2019. To say that is a life-changing amount of money is such a massive understatement that it is hard to fathom. Still, even though Johansson starred in Jojo Rabbit, Marriage Story, and Avengers: Endgame in 2019, seven male actors reportedly made more than her that year. Of course, there are strong arguments for why Dwayne Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Akshay Kumar, Jackie Chan, Bradley Cooper, and Adam Sandler made a fortune in 2019. However, it seems pretty questionable that all of them were paid more than Johansson that year considering how on fire her career was at the time.