”I do what I’m good at, that’s what I focus on,” says “The Avengers” star Jeremy Renner at a press day for his own ”One Life/Live Them” campaign for Remy Martin Cognac.
Following Jennifer Lawrence’s essay on being sick of being discriminated against and paid less than her co-stars because she is female, there has been a lot of focus on the issue. Lawrence’s co-star in American Hustle Bradley Cooper supported her stance on closing the pay gap between genders, but this was not to be expected from Renner apparently.
Renner is not committed to or even worried about the issue it seems.“I don’t know contracts and money and all that sort of stuff,” he says in his defense, arguing not to have an opinion because he doesn’t know the paperwork.
In her essay for Lenny Letter, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence states that it’s not certain that the stars of a movie are aware of what they are paid individually.
“I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled’,” she writes. “At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled’. This is an element of my personality that I’ve been working against for years, and based on the statistics, I don’t think I’m the only woman with the issue.”
Renner was in a similar situation earlier this year when he was promoting the The Avengers: Age of Ultron. He was asked about the Black Widow, a character in the movie, and referred to her as a slut. Later in a statement he apologized for his choice of words.
“I am sorry that this tasteless joke about a fictional character offended anyone. It was not meant to be serious in any way,” he said putting focus on the non-existent persona, Black Widow.
Later Renner later clarified that his focus is on his performance when making movies and not on his paycheck. He then stated that he supports equal pay for his female co-stars. “I’m a performer, and I know human behavior. When it comes to that sort of stuff I let other people deal with that,” he adds.
Image via Flickr/Eva Rinaldi, resized
