Priyanka Chopra Jonas is banking her ‘Citadel’ experience.
“[W]When I was filming Citadel, it was the first time in my career that I was rewarded with my male co-actor. For the first time in 22 years. And I wonder why that happened?” the 40-year-old actor said Friday at the South by Southwest Film and TV Festival in Austin, Texas, according to Variety.
Chopra Jonas spoke with Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke, who will debut the global espionage adventure Citadel at the end of April. The TV series stars Richard Madden, the “male co-star” in question. Also in the cast: Stanley Tucci, Ashleigh Cummings, Lesley Manville and Timothy Busfield.
The ‘Quantico’ actor – who is married to musician Nick Jonas – wondered if having a woman in charge made a difference in her salary. “It’s kind of crazy, I got the same appointment, I invested and worked the same amount, but I get paid a lot less,” she said, according to the Hollywood Reporter, referring to her 70 or so previous acting jobs. .
“But the ease with which Amazon Studios said, ‘That’s what you deserve, you guys are co-leads, it’s only fair,’ and I said, ‘You’re right, it’s fair.’ And I wonder, did that happen because there are very few female decision makers in Hollywood? Would it have been a different conversation if a woman hadn’t made that decision?”
Salke wasn’t 100% sure she’d made a difference. But maybe she did?
“There was just no doubt in my mind that this was absolutely the right thing to do,” said the manager. “Whether it would have happened or not had I been there I can’t say. I have great allies, men and women, within our organization who have worked for me and with me and who now know how to sit back and stop and think and have to do the bowel check.
Salke said she sees wage parity changes in her industry and finds them “encouraging and inspiring.”
Citadel begins on Prime Video on April 28.
Source: LA Times