NEW YORK, May 18 (UPI) — Robin Wright said she demanded the same pay as co-star Kevin Spacey for starring on Netflix’s hit political drama, House of Cards.
“I was like, ‘I want to be paid the same as Kevin,’” the actress said Tuesday speaking at the Rockefeller Foundation according to the Huffington Post.
“It was the perfect paradigm. There are very few films or TV shows where the male, the patriarch, and the matriarch are equal. And they are in House of Cards,” she continued.
“I was looking at the statistics and Claire Underwood’s character was more popular than [Frank’s] for a period of time. So I capitalized on it. I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public. And they did.”
Wright portrays first lady Claire Underwood on the series, the equally conniving and cutthroat counterpart to Spacey’s President Frank Underwood. The 50-year-old’s comments mirror the events of the recently released Season 4 in which Claire, due to being more popular then Frank, decides to run alongside her husband as the vice presidential nominee.
The series was renewed for a fifth season in January as showrunner Beau Willimon departed.
Outside of House of Cards, Wright is in final negotiations to join Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in the upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott’s fan-favorite sci-fi classic, Blade Runner.
Wright will also be seen as an Amazonian warrior in Warner Bros. upcoming superhero epic Wonder Woman, as General Antiope alongside Gal Gadot.