Washington DC [US], June 16 : Actress and film producer Robin Wright recalled how she needed to receive multiple paychecks to reach pay parity with Kevin Spacey on 'House of Cards', reported Deadline.
'House of Cards' is an American political thriller TV series created by Beau Willimon. It is based on the 1989 novel of the same title by Michael Dobbs and an adaptation of the 1990 British series of the same name by Andrew Davies, also from the novel.
During the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, Wright went down memory lane and spoke about her battle for equal pay for equal pay on the Netflix hit. She explained that she was told she couldn't have equal pay as an actor, but the workaround was doling out three paychecks and having her act, direct and produce.
"They said, 'Well, we can't pay you the same as an actor, so we're going to divvy it up to make it equal [and] make you executive producer, and then you can direct, and then we'll give you three different paychecks.' I said, 'Why can't you pay me the same as an actor?' And they said: "Because you didn't win an Academy Award," reported Deadline.
Wright shared that David Fincher foresaw the streaming revolution as House of Cards came together. "He said: 'You know, this will be our future. We'll launch streaming... and I think it'll be revolutionary.' And look at where we are today," according to Deadline.
Robin Wright also discussed her fears that AI will take industry jobs. She said, "It frightens me for our industry, and it's such a dichotomy. It's tough, because I know it's going to help in the medical world tremendously. But everywhere else, people are going to lose jobs," as per the outlet.
Not acting jobs, though, she added: "People say: 'Well, don't you think that it'll take over acting?' I don't think it ever can because I don't think it will ever get the emotion in the eyes. You'll never feel the resonance coming from that actor."
Wright was in a session on stage with Rola Bauer, the former Amazon MGM executive with whom she collaborated on Prime Video's The Girlfriend. She stars in the show and also directs and executive produces it.
She shared an exclusive clip of the show at the Festival. In it, she chats to her on-screen son in a sauna and gently but firmly quizzes him about his new love interest.
Wright is being feted with the Festival's highest honour, the Crystal Nymph Award, which is bestowed for career achievements and creating a lasting impact on the industry, reported Deadline.