Priyanka Chopra revealed that Citadel, her new Russo Brothers action drama co-starring Richard Madden, is the first time she has had pay parity with her male co-star during a conversation with Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke at the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW 2023).
After being crowned Miss World 2000, Priyanka entered the film industry, making her acting debut in the 2002 Tamil film ‘Thamizhan,’ followed by her first Bollywood film, ‘The Hero: The Love Story of a Spy’ (2003). She will next be seen alongside Richard Madden in the Russo Brothers’ upcoming Prime Video series ‘Citadel.’ The show is billed as an “action-packed spy series” that takes place all over the world. On the show, Priyanka mentioned ‘pay parity’ for the first time.
“I might get into trouble for [saying this]; it depends on who’s watching. I’ve been in the entertainment industry for 22 years and have worked on nearly 70 films and two television shows. But when I worked at Citadel, I had pay parity for the first time in my career. “I’m laughing, but it’s kind of crazy,” Priyanka Chopra said.
“I put in the same amount of investment and work, but I get paid much less,” the actor continued. But the ease with which Amazon Studios said, ‘That’s what you deserve, you’re co-leads, that’s just fair,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right, it’s fair,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right, it’s fair.’ And I’m curious: Did this happen because there aren’t many female decision-makers in Hollywood? Would the conversation have been different if a woman hadn’t made that decision? Those were not easy conversations to have.” Jennifer Salke responded that she couldn’t speak to what would have happened if she hadn’t been in charge, but she praised her executive team. She claims to have ‘great male and female allies’ at her workplace.
The first trailer for the spy series starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas was recently released. Priyanka’s upcoming projects include ‘Love Again’ with Sam Heughan and Celine Dion, as well as Prime Video’s web series ‘Citadel.’ The film is an English-language remake of the 2016 German film SMS ‘fur Dich,’ which was based on a novel by Sofie Cramer. It was written and directed by James C Strouse.
