Actor Jessica Chastain has praised her "It: Chapter Two" co-star James McAvoy for supporting equal pay even before it became a raging topic of discussion post #MeToo and Time's Up movements.
The 42-year-old actor, who has been a vocal advocate of gender equality, said McAvoy endorsed the idea even before it became "cool".
''I'm going to say something nice about James McAvoy here. Before the #MeToo movement, before Time's Up, before anything like that, James was always a proponent of equal pay. Even when we did 'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby' (2013), he and I were doing the same amount of work, the same everything, and we got equal pay for that movie.
''He's always been a proponent of that. He's posted about it on his Instagram before it was the cool thing to do. He's an incredible human being," Chastain told OK! magazine.
The actor said she is happy that finally people are talking about gender equality in Hollywood and it has given her ''hope'' for the future.
"I've been talking about it for a very long time, since 2012, when I did 'Zero Dark Thirty'. I'm pretty sure certain people think I don't talk about anything else, but it's very exciting to see that other people are really interested in it now. It doesn't really feel like it's a taboo subject any more.
''For the longest time women were afraid to say they were feminists. It was a dirty word to say. If you said you were a feminist, people would look at you like there was something wrong with you. I love the fact that I now see lots of young women coming out and saying it - and there's no problem with it. They are able to express themselves in a more equal manner now. That gives me a lot of hope," she said.
"It: Chapter Two", directed by Andy Muschietti, released this Friday.