Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were reportedly paid less than their male American Hustle co-stars, according to emails leaked following the cyber attack on Sony.

In correspondence between various executives shared by The Daily Beast, it is revealed that male stars Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner, as well as director David O Russell, were in line to receive 9% back-end compensation, compared to 7% for Lawrence and Adams.


American Hustle was co-financed by Columbia Pictures, and was green-lit after Lawrence's The Hunger Games became a box office hit.

"Got a Steve Warren/Gretchen Rush call that it's unfair the male actors get 9% in the pool and Jennifer is only at 7pts," read one email from Columbia Pictures' Andrew Gumpert to Sony's Amy Pascal and Doug Belgrad, dated December 5, 2013.

"You may recall Jennifer was at 5 (Amy was and is at 7) and we anted in 2 extra points for Jennifer to get her up to 7.


"If anyone needs to top Jennifer up, it's [producer] Megan [Ellison]. BUT I think Amy and Jennifer are tied, so upping JL ups AA."

Adams starred as female lead Sydney Prosser in the film, while Lawrence played Rosalyn Rosenfeld, the wife of Bale's character Irving. The pair won Golden Globes for Best Actress and Supporting Actress in a Musical or Comedy respectively in 2013.

American Hustle also received 10 Academy Award nominations, including for Bale, Adams, Cooper and Lawrence.