Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain's Real-Life Friendship
Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain's Friendship Goes Far Beyond the Screen
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At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Octavia revealed an incredible truth: Jessica has been instrumental in negotiating an equal salary for a new project they'd be working on. When Jessica approached Octavia with a project in March 2017, they had a serious talk about salary, and how much women of color make compared to white women. Jessica decided they would be tethered together for negotiations, so Octavia would be making just as much money.
"She had been underpaid for so long," Jessica wrote in a tweet. "When I discovered that, I realized that I could tie her deal to mine to bring up her quote. Men should start doing this with their female costars." In her own tweet, Octavia revealed that she's making five times her usual salary because Jessica stood with her.