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Jeremy Renner shies from negotiating pay for female costars: ‘That’s not my job’

Jeremy Renner says he's not good at salary negotiations and leaves that work to the pros.

Jeremy Renner says he’s not good at salary negotiations and leaves that work to the pros.

(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
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Hey, ladies, don’t expect Jeremy Renner to help boost your paycheck, ‘cause dealing with the pay gap is not his calling.

“That’s not my job,” Renner told Business Insider during an event on Tuesday. “I don’t know contracts and money and all that sort of stuff.”

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The “Avengers: Age of Ultron” star said he supports equal pay for actors and actresses but would rather focus on his craft than salaries, which are normally negotiated by agents, managers and lawyers and not by talent, the outlet said.

“I’m a performer and I know human behavior. When it comes to that sort of stuff I let other people deal with that,” the 44-year-old added. “I do what I’m good at -- that’s what I focus on.”

Renner’s remarks come on the heels of his “American Hustle” costar Jennifer Lawrence’s admission (and admonition) of her lesser salary on their film that she enumerated in an essay for Lena Dunham’s Lenny newsletter earlier this month. Last year’s Sony Pictures hack revealed that “The Hunger Games” star and her “Hustle” costar Amy Adams earned significantly less than Renner, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale on the film, when Lawrence noted in her essay.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight,” Lawrence wrote. “I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’ At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’”

Following her essay, Cooper, Lawrence’s frequent leading man, told Reuters that he’s been teaming up with his female counterparts to negotiate salaries before starting work on a project together.

That appears to be what prompted Renner’s thoughts on the topic.

Meanwhile, even with the pay disparity, the “X-Men” actress was named Hollywood’s top-earning actress by Forbes earlier this year. The young Oscar winner earned an estimated $52 million, though that may pale in comparison to Tinseltown’s male top earner, Renner’s “Avengers” costar Robert Downey Jr., who reportedly racked up $80 million that same year.

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Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.

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