--- title: Robin Wright Pressed for Equal Pay on 'House of Cards' description: 'House of Cards' actress Robin Wright revealed that she recently demanded to be paid the same as costar Kevin Spacey for her work. canonical: https://time.com/4339696/robin-wright-equal-pay-kevin-spacey-house-of-cards/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-18T08:09:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:34.680Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Robin Wright Pressed for Equal Pay on 'House of Cards' og:description: She demanded to be paid the same as costar Kevin Spacey for her work og:url: https://time.com/4339696/robin-wright-equal-pay-kevin-spacey-house-of-cards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9681a5e2c45913e0/698893aaf887dc7114e95e73/gettyimages-471392880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3386 og:image:height: 1905 og:image:alt: Netflix's "House Of Cards" Q&A Screening Event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Robin Wright Pressed for Equal Pay on 'House of Cards' twitter:description: She demanded to be paid the same as costar Kevin Spacey for her work twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9681a5e2c45913e0/698893aaf887dc7114e95e73/gettyimages-471392880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Robin Wright Pressed for Equal Pay on _House of Cards_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Inside TV's Most Controversial Sex Scenes [Watch (HLS stream): Inside TV's Most Controversial Sex Scenes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mEpvFeej.m3u8) (4:50)  _Published 2015-05-11. Sex on television has gone from a titillating distraction to a real reflection of people's lives, and the best ones give agency to the marginalized: women, gays and the trans community. Six acclaimed showrunners take you behind the scenes_ by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly May 18, 2016 8:09 AM UTC  Actress Robin Wright (L) and actor Kevin Spacey attend Netflix's 'House Of Cards' Q&A screening event on April 27, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Actress Robin Wright (L) and actor Kevin Spacey attend Netflix's 'House Of Cards' Q&A screening event on April 27, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Amanda Edwards—WireImage/Getty Images by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly May 18, 2016 8:09 AM UTC Fictional first lady Claire Underwood is one tough negotiator — and so is the woman who plays her. _House of Cards_ actress Robin Wright revealed Tuesday that she recently demanded to be paid the same as costar Kevin Spacey for her work on the popular Netflix series, and ultimately prevailed. According to a [Huffington Post report](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/robin-wright-kevin-spacey-equal-pay%5Fus%5F573b619ce4b0aee7b8e7f5a9), Wright was participating in a Rockefeller Foundation event when she addressed the issue of unequal pay for men and women. Speaking about _House of Cards_, she said, “I was like, ‘I want to be paid the same as Kevin.’” Like Spacey, who plays President Frank Underwood, Wright has appeared in all 52 episodes of _House of Cards_. She has also directed several episodes and joined Spacey as an executive producer on the most recent season. Wright also praised the show for featuring such a prominent female character. “There are very few films or TV shows where the male, the patriarch, and the matriarch are equal,” she said. “And they are in_House of Cards_.” She added that “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.” Representatives for Netflix and Wright did not immediately respond to requests for comment about her remarks. She is the latest high-profile actor to speak out about the problematic gender pay gap in Hollywood (and beyond), joining [Patricia Arquette](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/12/patricia-arquette-equal-pay-day-breaking-point), [Jennifer Lawrence](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/13/jennifer-lawrence-lenny-letter-essay-sexism), [Meryl Streep](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/23/meryl-streep-congress-equal-rights-amendment), and others. In October, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [launched an investigation](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/08/ava-duvernay-catherine-hardwicke-discrimination-female-directors) into gender discrimination in the industry. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/17/robin-wright-equal-pay-house-cards-kevin-spacey) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://EW.com) ## Transcript Hello? Hi. Oh, ok great. Yeah, you're about to hear me order a coffee at the deli. You can, I can multitask. So you can go ahead and begin. I just wanted to give you a heads up as to what. Go ahead, I'm listening. Oh, sure. What we're. [ MUSIC ] The article is about how sex is teaching on tv. Whether it's to become more realistic or to show more versions than what we normally see on tv. Why it's changing. And so I've been talking to showrunners on different shows about what they do and why they do it. [ MUSIC ] The sexual act is really, just yet another approach to exploring the transactional nature of human relationship, and then you mix in with that, desire, whim, intimacies, all these aspects of ourselves that are either more primitive or more irrational it could be quite interesting. You know, you should have seen us in the writer's room, pitching on that scene, because it was really a group of eight writers going through every possible sexual position, trying to figure out what the right one was. We were looking for something that expressed mutuality, but also great intimacy, so notice, that the choice that was landed on there. Involve dominance. Philip wasn't on top, and Elizabeth wasn't on top, and so that was also a specific choice. Are you aware, when you You guys are writing a scene. You now the next day the blogosphere [ LAUGH ] is going to respond to it. No, they always get it wrong. Everything I think I say that is going to be a big deal isn't, and everything that I think is, people just yawn at. How'd you get this? [ MUSIC ] I've just been surprised that people have taken notice of it as something new. He's kissing and having sex with another man and that's not interesting of a different to me. Wasn't exactly legal is the point. Oh. [ INAUDIBLE ] a really funny scene and I'm a really Cool beans [ INAUDIBLE ] progression as like a sexual purpose, but I was surprised that there was so much salaciousness over it. When you create a character, you just know what they're like. And I just knew that he was hypersexual. The only hot guys that ever come in here are from your agency. Showing them in their environment and what they do and how they go through life, like the Just came out of that. I just want people to pay attention to the character as much as they do his sex life. The threesome scene between [ INAUDIBLE ] player and Michem. We don't go very far into it at all. The most we get is the beginning of the kiss. And yet it feels incredibly sensual and suggestive, but at the moment that we get to the kiss, we know everything We need to know about the scene so we're out. And there are times when you see Francis with Kate Mara's character, Zoe Barnes where Most of the time we see them before, or after the sexual act, those are more interesting, those moments, than the sexual act itself. I'm not seeing anyone right now, I don't feel like it. I was actively attempting to use the camera to be the female characters rather than see the female characters. I didn't want to have the women looked at arching their backs, glossy lips, performing some version of a Playboy centerfold to have sex. But instead being in their bodies and experiencing all of the complicated, messy reality of You know, being human. And then, hourly, we'd have like a three- way, in the editing room, worked really hard, to try and stay in her point of view. Hm, I feel like I'm spawning a bear. And we never used the objective camera, which was the only thing looking at her. In this scenario, but also, potentially inviting audiences to judge her. The camera is automatically judging because it takes a picture. It immediately sees. I'm always noticing the difference between what a camera does to a naked woman than what is does to a naked man. Well thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. This was really helpful. I really appreciate it. [ INAUDIBLE ] My pleasure, thanks a a lot. Sounds like it will be a cool article. Thank you, nice talking to you. Thank you. 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