Maggie Gyllenhaalis opening up about why she felt “guilty” receiving a significant pay bump for her work on HBO’sThe Deuce.
On Thursday, the actress spoke to Sirius XM Insight host John Fugelsang about her reaction when she learned she was earning equal pay as her costarJames Francoon the HBO series, which Gyllenhaal also produces.
“Yeah, that was so interesting actually. I just, out of the blue, got a phone call saying that HBO was going to significantly raise my salary,” Gyllenhaal, 41, explained. “And, I’m going to be totally honest here, the first feeling I had was I felt kind of guilty. I just had this windfall: ‘You know, wait, that’s not fair.’ But that’s where I’m brainwashed.”
“That’s where I’m like, ‘I don’t deserve this’ and all this stuff,” the actress continued. “Like, ‘Well, he is way more bankable and so he is going to …’ and that I’ve been told my entire career. It took me maybe a day to go like, ‘No, no, no, this is payback for a long time. When have I ever been paid the same as my male costar?’ ”
“It took me a while to kind of clear my head,” added Gyllenhaal. “Because I think I spent a lot of time justifying this confused logic.”
Gyllenhaal also applauded HBO for their handling of the explicit series, as well as thesexual misconduct allegationsagainst Franco, 41.
“So, that was amazing and I think HBO in general has been so incredibly intelligent about the way they have dealt with the accusations against James, the very complicated nuanced politics of our show, the nudity, having an intimacy coordinator,” she said. “All of it, I just think HBO has been incredible.”
Reps for Franco and HBO did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The Deuce,which begins its third and final season next week, follows the beginning of the sex trade industry in New York City in the early 1970s. Gyllenhaal plays sex worker “Candy” Merrell, while Franco takes on two roles as twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino.
Paul Schiraldi/HBO
“Do you talk to him about it? Do you ignore it? What do you, what do you do under those circumstances?” Calloway asked the actress.
“For me, I would say another thing that was really important was our show is about, like I said, it’s about misogyny,” Gyllenhaal said. “It’s about transactional sex. It’s about inequality in the entertainment business. You couldn’t be more at the center of that conversation thanThe Deuce.”
“To me, I thought, I want to keep telling this story, I want to keep playing Candy and going deep into, like, really what it’s like from a woman’s perspective to be dealing with all the stuff that is on everybody’s minds right now,” she continued.
Walter McBride/WireImage; Lars Niki/Getty Images
“I feel like it would’ve been the wrong consequence to those accusations to shut our show down. It would’ve been like actually the opposite of the right thing to do,” Gyllenhaal added. “And yet, you know, look, I believe that there should be consequences for disrespecting or assaulting women. Of course, I do.”
After the allegations,Busy Philippscalled Franco a “f— bully” in her memoir,This Will Only Hurt a Little, in which she alleged he pushed her to the ground on the set ofFreaks and Geeks.
The next day, Philipps said Franco apologized to her after executive producerJudd Apatowmade him watch a video of what happened.
She said Franco went on to apologize, claiming that he had a negative reaction to watching his character being treated poorly. According to Philipps, that was the extent of Franco’s punishment for the incident.
The final season ofThe Deucepremieres Sept. 9 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
source: people.com
