Jodie Foster on Hollywood pay gap: 'It's hard for me to get interested in millionaires'
"In terms of pay, it's hard for me to get interested in millionaires worried about who gets paid more," Foster said during a recent SiriusXM Town Hall.
The actress and director, whose film "Money Monster" hits theaters on Friday, believes there's a fairly straightforward economic principle that governs Hollywood stars' salaries.
"I'm just so grateful to be an actor, and I know lots of actors feel that way, that it's hard for us to complain because we're artists, and unfortunately we're artists in a marketplace, and the marketplace pays what the marketplace demands, so we need to change the marketplace," she said.
Foster feels that the problem of salary disparity should be looked at in a broader way "especially now, when the class inequality and financial inequality is larger than ever, and it really is the problem of our future."
The pay gap conversation saw a resurgence in 2014, when the Sony hacks revealed that Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams made less than their male costars for "American Hustle." Lawrence waited nearly a year before addressing the wage gap in Lena Dunham's newsletter, Lenny, saying that she was more angry with herself for not pushing harder for a higher salary.