French actor and director says she insisted on being paid the same as co-star Ethan Hawke in romantic drama

The French actor and director Julie Delpy has revealed that she refused to make Before Midnight, the third in the celebrated romantic drama “Before” trilogy, unless she received the same pay as her co-star Ethan Hawke.

In an interview with Variety, Delpy said that for the first film in the series, 1995’s Before Sunrise, she was paid “about a 10th” of Hawke’s fee, and for the second, Before Sunset, released in 2004, she received half of what Hawke was paid. For the final 2013 film, Before Midnight, which earned her a nomination for a best screenplay Oscar along with Hawke and the film’s director, Richard Linklater, she says she insisted on pay parity. “I said: ‘Listen guys, if I am not paid the same, I am not doing it.’”

Delpy plays the same character, Céline, in all three films, which have accrued considerable acclaim. In Before Sunrise she meets Hawke’s character, Jesse, on a train and they spend the night walking around Vienna. In Before Sunset they meet nine years later in Paris and spend an afternoon together. In Before Midnight, they are in a relationship, spending the summer in Greece.

Alongside her acting work, Delpy has directed seven features, including 2 Days in Paris and 2 Days in New York.