Ever since Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away at the age of 43, stories about the actor’s kindness and compassion have been making the rounds on a regular basis. Even as he spent four years battling the colon cancer that would eventually take his life, Boseman kept his illness a secret from everyone except his inner circle and continued to make movies, fulfill commitments and live up to the title of the generational icon he had become following the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther.
The actor had recently moved into producing in an attempt to find the kind of projects that appealed to him directly, and his first two efforts in a creative capacity saw him executive produce little-seen Netflix revenge thriller Message from the King and co-produce biographical drama Marshall, the latter of which found him delivering one of the finest performances of his career.
The Get on Up star’s first credit as a full-fledged producer, though, was on action thriller 21 Bridges, which saw Boseman playing a no-nonsense NYPD officer on the hunt for two cop killers. The movie failed to even crack $50 million at the box office despite solid reviews, but in a recent interview, co-star Sienna Miller revealed that not only did she sign up in the first place specifically to work with the leading man, but he also gave up part of his salary to ensure that she was being paid fairly.
“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. 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 was what I deserved to be paid. It was about the most astounding thing that I’ve experienced. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen. He said, ‘You’re getting paid what you deserve, and what you’re worth’. It’s just unfathomable to imagine another man in that town behaving that graciously or respectfully. 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. But there was no showiness, it was, ‘Of course I’ll get you to that number, because that’s what you should be paid’.”
21 Bridges was little more than a formulaic and serviceable entry in a genre that’s already been done to death, but it still stands out as a testament to Chadwick Boseman’s selfless nature as a major movie star that never put himself first and always looked to help others.