Sienna Miller says that 21 Bridges co-star Chadwick Boseman took a cut of his own salary on the 2019 action-thriller and gave it to her after she “asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to.”
The actress recounted Boseman’s “unfathomable” act of support in an interview with Empire magazine, whose new issue is dedicated entirely to the late actor’s life on- and offscreen. During the interview, Miller expressed hesitation about revealing the steps Boseman had taken to increase her pay on the project but said she has ultimately decided to share it as “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,” Miller recounted. “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.”
Miller went on to say that Boseman told her without “showiness” that she would get paid what she was worth. The 21 Bridges actress said Boseman’s act was “about the most astounding thing that I’ve experienced,” before stressing that “that kind of thing just doesn’t happen.” While Miller acknowledged she had not spoken publicly about how Boseman had helped her, she did say that she had shared it privately among her circle of male acting friends.
“It’s just unfathomable to imagine another man in [Hollywood] behaving that graciously or respectfully,” Miller said. “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.”
Miller also explained how instrumental her former co-star, who died in August from colon cancer, was in her joining the film’s cast. Boseman not only starred in the 2019 action thriller but also served as a producer alongside Marvel collaborators Anthony and Joe Russo 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.”
During the film’s press run last year, Boseman also shared that Miller’s role, Frankie, wasn’t originally slated to go to a woman. “Who these characters were completely changed,” Boseman told Cinemablend. “In fact, Frankie was a man.” Boseman went on to say that because director Brian Kirk was open to changes that would ultimately serve both the characters and the story, they were able to cast Miller in the role.
