Tom Hardy is not about to leave his teammates hanging.
According to London’s The Sunday Times, the Peaky Blinders alum offered to help out the crew on his new show Fixer, when they were told there was no money to pay them.
Contractors spent the past summer building sets for Hardy’s new Paramount + show. 50 workers were employed for the project by a company called Helix 3D which, despite being paid by 101 studios and MTV Studios, was ultimately unable to pay their employees.
The lost wages amounted to £250,000, or $315,000 USD. A leaked WhatsApp message from December allegedly showed that Helix 3D did not have the money to pay its contractors.
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“He offered to [pay],” a source close to Hardy told The Times. “But the production and Paramount have sorted the payment.”
A source at Paramount told the outlet that the studio was “outraged” when they learned about the situation and were working to pay the employees.
The Times also published excerpts from a letter written by union organizer Chris Hudson to the Helix 3D Chief Executive Brian Dowling before the payment situation was resolved.
“Our members deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and compensated on time for their work. It is wholly unacceptable that they are facing significant financial precarity, particularly ahead of Christmas,” wrote Hudson.
Hudson, who works for the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union, said that the financial situation could affect the mental health of its members around the holidays.
“This close to Christmas, our members are rightly very distressed, with many fearing they will be unable to cover necessities,” he wrote. “I trust you can appreciate the significant impact this is also having on their mental health.”
Hudson has also criticized the lack of communication from Helix 3D.
“What does seem to have been avoidable was the lack of foresight that this situation could occur, given the serious financial trouble Helix was in,” he continued. “What was also avoidable is the lack of information and transparency granted to our members throughout their employment as to Helix’s current state of affairs.”
Fixer, which also stars Dame Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan alongside Hardy, will be helmed by Guy Ritchie. The director, producer and screenwriter has had hits such as The Gentlemen, Sherlock Holmes, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E
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