Michelle Williams is starring in a Lin-Manuel Miranda FX show — and even better news, she’s getting equal pay for it
Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell are teaming up to star in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new FX limited series and because Hollywood is finally catching up, the pair are receiving equal pay for their work on the project.
The limited series will follow the lives of legendary Broadway couple Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. Rockwell will play Fosse, the eight-time Tony-winning choreographer-director — who also won an Academy Award for directing Cabaret in 1973 — with Williams stepping in to play Verdon, a four-time Tony-winning actress, who is largely considered to be the greatest Broadway dancer of all time. According to Variety, the series, “explores the hidden corners of show business, the price of pursuing greatness, and the suffering inflicted in the name of art.”
Considering the series, which will be using Fosse’s original choreography (!), is about two of the biggest names in Broadway history, it’s unsurprising that some of Broadway’s current powerhouses have boarded the project.
Dear Evan Hansen writer Steven Levenson is serving as showrunner for the eight-episode series and will write the premiere episode, which will be directed by Hamilton director Thomas Kail. The pair will be executive producing the project, alongside Miranda, Rockwell, and Williams. Fosse and Verdon’s daughter Nicole Fosse is also attached to the project as a co-producer.
While Williams and Rockwell receiving equal pay for the project should be a no-brainer, it comes just months after Williams found herself at the center of Hollywood’s gender pay conversation. In January, it was revealed that during the reshoots of All the Money in the World — to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer — Williams made a per diem salary of $80. Meanwhile, Wahlberg made a reported $1.5 million working on the 10-day reshoots. After intense public scrutiny, Wahlberg donated his reshoot salary in Williams’ name to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
As if we weren’t already thrilled about the upcoming project, knowing Rockwell and Williams are getting paid equally has us dancing with excitement.