A month after Chadwick Boseman’s passing, the tributes and uplifting anecdotes about him from friends and colleagues continue to pour in, as well as tributes to his enduring legacy, such as the gorgeous mural unveiled at Downtown Disney last week.

21 Bridges co-star Sienna Miller added to that legacy of his in a recent interview with Empire. She revealed that Boseman, who was known for being an advocate, an activist, and quietly charitable, gave up part of his salary for 21 Bridges in order to pay her more. Before that, however, she spoke about how the power of Boseman himself is what got her to sign onto the project when she just wanted a break:

“He produced 21 Bridges, and had been really active in trying to get me to do it. He was a fan of my work, which was thrilling, because it was reciprocated from me to him, tenfold. So he approached me to do it, he offered me this film, and it was at a time when I really didn’t want to work anymore. I’d been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him.”

Part of her condition in agreeing to do the film was that she was compensated adequately to make it worth it for her. It’s a sign of Boseman’s integrity that he cut his own pay in order for her to join the project. As she explained it

“I didn’t know whether or not to tell this story, and I haven’t yet. But I am going to tell it, because I think it’s a testament to who he was. 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. 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.’ And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”

Despite surface strides being made in Hollywood, the pay gap between male and female actors is still significant, with male stars being paid an average of $1.1 million more per film than their female co-stars. That gap gets even bigger in a straightforward comparison of the pay of female-led and male-led movies. A number of actresses have been increasingly vocal about it over the years, but very few male actors have, and nor have they necessarily advocated for their female co-stars behind the scenes. So rare is it that Miller, a veteran actress who has been working since the early 2000s, was floored by Boseman’s offer:

“It was about the most astounding thing that I’ve 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. In the aftermath of this I’ve told other male actor friends of mine that story and they all go very very quiet and go home and probably have to sit and think about things for a while. But there was no showiness, it was, ‘Of course I’ll get you to that number, because that’s what you should be paid.’”

There are many reasons to miss Chadwick Boseman and a myriad number of ways he added to his legacy of honor and fairness. We’ll now have to add yet another one to the list.

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