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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Claire Foy was not put below a man in her salary for the Crown.

144 replies

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:12

Ok before I start this, let me know that I am aware men get paid more than women and it needs to stop. There needs to be equality however people are putting things out of context.

One that stuck out to me as not being 'unfair' was the Matt Smith and Claire Foy difference for the Crown in that he got paid more. Whilst I am a big fan of Foy thinking she is a brilliant actress I don't see why she'd be expected to get as much as him because he was a big name before The Crown and she wasn't.
It was Foy's 1st big role so why should she be paid the same as Matt Smith who had played 1 of the biggest roles on tv before it.? That's not how it works.

That is what the show said when it was disputed but I think they were right. It is, in the same way, I'd think that many of the men Meryl Streep or Kate Winslet have starred with over the years in films and had equal screen time yet were not as big as the actresses would not have got less and rightly so as Winslet and Streep are the bigger names.
I also think it is true when big actresses play a support role in a film against a lesser-known male who gets more screen time and this does happen-the actress gets more money and rightly so as she is a bigger name. At the end of the day, the bigger name-male or female can command more money and that's perfectly fair and how the industry works.

OP posts:

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:14

It is, in the same way, I'd think that many of the men Meryl Streep or Kate Winslet have starred with over the years in films and had equal screen time yet were not as big as the actresses would not have got less and rightly so as Winslet and Streep are the bigger names

Change that to 'Would have got less.'

OP posts:

thedevilinablackdress · 26/10/2021 21:15

That's what Joan said (not about them specifically).
Bit of an old issue to be bringing up tho about The Crown

www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/17/joan-collins-interview-unapologetic-diarries-jackie-film

Dbakl · 26/10/2021 21:18

?? I had seen Claire Foy in way more stuff than Matt Smith before the Crown.

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:18

Bit of an old issue to be bringing up tho about The Crown

maybe old but it's 1 I see brought up again and again in the media and in conversation when people appear to misunderstand that Foy was a nobody before the Crown.

OP posts:

WrapAroundYourDreams · 26/10/2021 21:20

I remember watching Claire Foy in Little Dorrit years ago when the BBC were churning out really good period dramas every autumn and winter.

She was also outstanding in Wolf Hall as Anne Boleyn.

I get what you're saying in some ways OO but on the other hand, to the kind of audience who would be interested in The Crown, she probably was a very well known and respected name? Matt Smith, I just think Dr Who (of which I have no interest 😂).

I think they probably should have been paid the same.

LarryTheLurker · 26/10/2021 21:21

'...men get paid more than women and it needs to stop'?

I think you'll find the Equal Pay Act 1970 ended different pay rates for the same work.

Actors pay for a particular role is individually negotiated by their agents. There are no salary scales.

LaurieFairyCake · 26/10/2021 21:22

Yeah I've never seen Matt Smith in anything as I don't watch dr who

So it's actually because he's a big name because of populist bullshit that I'm annoyed that Foy had to fight for this - when she's more accomplished

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:25

I get what you're saying in some ways OO but on the other hand, to the kind of audience who would be interested in The Crown, she probably was a very well known and respected name

the crown was a universal massive show that everybody seems to have watched though. It's not a certain audience, more of a popular culture show. I know she'd done Wolf Hall before it but that wasn't a universally watched show if you get me?

Matt Smith, I just think Dr Who (of which I have no interest

I am the same but I still appreciate that it is a huge role with a massive fanbase which she had not yet achieved by this stage.

OP posts:

CiaoForDiNiaoSaur · 26/10/2021 21:25

She was a 'big name' before The Crown though

incywincyspiders · 26/10/2021 21:25

She should have got more money as she was top billed/the forefront of the show: regardless of gender or how big a star she is.

Theunamedcat · 26/10/2021 21:26

He was also in terminator and other films

Was she strictly tv drama before or had she done film?

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:28

So it's actually because he's a big name because of populist bullshit that I'm annoyed that Foy had to fight for this - when she's more accomplished

Being ''acclomplished'' though can be subjective and by your logic then any unknown actor should get paid top dollar as long as they are ''acclomplished''. This wouldn't work in any industry really?

OP posts:

WrapAroundYourDreams · 26/10/2021 21:29

It isn't a universally watched show- people who aren't interested in historical fiction/period type dramas or the royal family aren't going to be particularly interested in it.

She is a very well respected actress with an interesting CV and is more than deserving to be paid at least equally to Matt Smith. In fact without someone as talented as Claire Foy, something like the Crown could end up being really low rent, like that crap Liz Hurley did a few years back.

CallMeNutribullet · 26/10/2021 21:30

She was the lead role. It's right there in the name.

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:30

She was a 'big name' before The Crown though

no, she wasn't, she had show that was acclaimed but it wasn't a massive hit in the ratings or a show that was high in popular culture. It's the same way Kate Winslet was oscar-nominated before Titanic and had starred in Sense and Sensibility yet she still was unknown by the masses.

OP posts:

FluffyBooBoo · 26/10/2021 21:32

It's different with films though. Big names bring in an audience, and every audience starts from zero. That's not really the case with The Crown, especially not by that point.

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:35

It isn't a universally watched show- people who aren't interested in historical fiction/period type dramas or the royal family aren't going to be particularly interested in it

not really no, The Crown became big through word of mouth also and they put in enough good-looking young actors to make it appeal to younger audiences amid household names like Matt Smith and Olivia Colman.
I have no interest in History, the Royals etc but watched it because of all the hype over it.

She is a very well respected actress with an interesting CV and is more than deserving to be paid at least equally to Matt Smith

but again if this becomes the case all breakout actors or names that aren't big would be getting the same as the big actors-would that happen in any industry?

OP posts:

CiaoForDiNiaoSaur · 26/10/2021 21:37

@alittlebitofc

She was a 'big name' before The Crown though

I disagree that she was unknown by the masses. Everyone I chatted to about The Crown at the time commented that they were excited/pleased that she was in because they liked her in

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:38

She was the lead role. It's right there in the name

who said she wasn't? My point was that it's not the screen time that gets you the salary, it's the status of your name in the business which seems fair to me.

OP posts:

Original poster

alittlebitofc · 26/10/2021 21:39

*I disagree that she was unknown by the masses. Everyone I chatted to about The Crown at the time commented that they were excited/pleased that she was in because they liked her in

OP posts:

WrapAroundYourDreams · 26/10/2021 21:39

She wasn't an unknown, breakout actress though- are you very young OP? Because I remember her being discussed as a 'breakout star' when she truly was one- 13 years ago when she started in Little Dorrit.

I can't comment on Matt Smith's ability. I'm aware he played Dr Who and that is it, and I've no interest in Dr Who.

You can't compare the suggestion of an genuine unknown actor getting paid the same as Tom Hanks for example, to the suggestion that Claire Foy should have been paid the same as Matt Smith.

The fact that it has been discussed shows they are very different scenarios!

Regularsizedrudy · 26/10/2021 21:40

@LarryTheLurker

'...men get paid more than women and it needs to stop'?

I think you'll find the Equal Pay Act 1970 ended different pay rates for the same work.

Actors pay for a particular role is individually negotiated by their agents. There are no salary scales.

Get back in your box Larry 🤣

JayAlfredPrufrock · 26/10/2021 21:44

To me she will always be Ann Boleyn as she turned her head just as the axe fell 😢

incywincyspiders · 26/10/2021 21:44

@alittlebitofc

She was the lead role. It's right there in the name

who said she wasn't? My point was that it's not the screen time that gets you the salary, it's the status of your name in the business which seems fair to me.

How does that seem fair to you???

MilduraS · 26/10/2021 21:45

I didn't know who Matt Smith was before the Crown so the idea that he was some sort of lure to the show was misplaced. I thought Claire Foy was amazing as the Queen. Matt Smith was good but not a patch on Tobias Menzies. Olivia Coleman was the only one I knew of the four and I didn't like her as The Queen.

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