Sienna Miller has opened up about how Chadwick Boseman once took a pay cut to boost her salary while working on the film "21 Bridges."
Boseman, who acted and produced the 2019 thriller, was hoping to secure Miller to star in the film, but the actress was reluctant to take the role of an NYPD officer after the studio declined the amount she had asked to be compensated with. The late "Black Panther" actor intervened to ensure she received an appropriate salary.
"This was a pretty big budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to," Miller said in an interview published in the latest edition of Empire magazine. "And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way."
The 38-year-old "American Sniper" actress explained that Boseman donated part of his salary so that she received the amount she had originally asked for.
"He said that that was what I deserved to be paid," she explained.
Miller said it was one of the most "astounding" things she had experienced.
"That kind of thing just doesn't happen. He said, 'You're getting paid what you deserve, and what you're worth.' It's just unfathomable to imagine another man in that town behaving that graciously or respectfully," she continued, adding that there was no "showiness" in the gesture. Boseman simply said to her: "Of course I'll get you to that number, because that's what you should be paid."
Boseman died after a four-year battle with colon cancer on Aug. 28. He only revealed his diagnoses to a handful of friends and family members.
"A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said in the statement. "From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more- all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther."