Emma Stone has revealed that her male co-stars have taken pay cuts in order for her to have parity with them.

Speaking to Out Magazine, the actor addressed the pay disparity between male and female performers in film. Stone did not reveal which male performers had taken pay cuts but said that they had agreed to do so because they felt it was fair.

“In my career so far, I’ve needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them,” she said. “And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and fair. That’s something that’s also not discussed, necessarily: that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, ‘That’s what’s fair.’”

Stone, who was named best actress at this year’s Academy Awards for her performance in La La Land, added that the “quote” system used in Hollywood, where an actor’s pay for a film is calculated based on what they made on previous productions, helps sustain the disparity between male and female actors.

“If my male co-star, who has a higher quote than me but believes we are equal, takes a pay cut so that I can match him, that changes my quote in the future and changes my life,” she said.

“It’s not about, ‘Women are this and men are that.’ It is, ‘We are all the same, we are all equal, we all deserve the same respect and the same rights.”

Stone’s comments came as part of a roundtable discussion with actor Andrea Riseborough and former tennis player Billie Jean King, who Stone portrays in forthcoming drama Battle of the Sexes. The film tells the real-life story of King’s landmark victory over male tennis player Bobby Riggs in a much-publicised 1973 exhibition match.

Stone drew parallels between King’s match with Riggs (played by Steve Carell in the film) and Hillary Clinton’s election battle with Donald Trump.

“We began shooting in the spring of 2016, when there was still a lot of hope in the air, and it was very interesting to see this guy – this narcissistic, self-focused, constantly-stirring-the-pot kind of guy – against this incredible, qualified woman, and at the same time be playing Billie Jean, with Steve playing Bobby Riggs,” she said.

“Obviously the way this has all panned out has been fascinating and horrifying, and it still feels like we’re in a bad dream.”

Battle of the Sexes is released in US cinemas on 22 September and UK cinemas on 20 October.

