Actress Michelle Williams and filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (“Wendy & Lucy“) have reunited for the drama “Showing Up,” a low-budget pic that sees Williams play a tightly wound artist named Lizzie. The film will be heading to the Canes Film Festival where it is notably one of the few movies playing there that has been helmed by a female director.
During a new interview with Variety, Williams talked about “Showing Up” and gave updates on other dramatic projects that have been in development for a while now.
Williams revealed that her Janis Joplin movie helmed by Sean Durkin is still seeking financing. Her other music biopic about singer Peggy Lee from director Todd Haynes is essentially dead, but the duo is itching to make the drama, hoping someone could “resurrect it” at some point.
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“It’s gone the way of the buffalo, I’m afraid,” Williams said, updating the status of her Peggy Lee biopic. “But if anyone reading this story would like to resurrect it, Todd and I are on board for that.”
Meanwhile, Williams was thrust into the conversation about the gender pay gap in Hollywood back in 2018 when it was revealed that co-star Mark Wahlberg was making substantially more than her on the Ridley Scott film “All The Money In The World.” The actress earned a paltry $80 per diem for reshoots while Wahlberg received $1.5 million and was asked about the topic and having to speak out on the uncomfortable subject.
“Like most women, I always had a very uneasy relationship with money,” said Williams. “It was never a motivating factor for me. My deepest desire was to contribute artistically to a way of working and to a kind of work, and I never had any illusions that would have big dollars attached to it.”
“I grew up a lot in that moment because doing anything in public is very difficult for me,” the actress said of the reshoot pay debacle. “But I felt like I was getting a clear message that I needed to stand up and deliver. I needed to ask myself, can I be a big enough, strong enough, and mature enough person to see the opportunity in front of me and take it? I saw that it’s not just about a strict dollar amount. It’s about self-worth. It’s about establishing a market value for something. And it’s up to all of us to say this is the right amount, the fair amount.”
The actress recently worked with Steven Spielberg on the family drama “The Fabelmans,” but we learned today, via press release, that she quietly dropped out of the Jude Law-starring, Karim Aïnouz-directed historical thriller “Firebrand,” and was replaced with Alicia Vikander.