Despite being one of the most sought after stars in Hollywood, Emma Stone has admitted that she still has to fight for equal pay.

The Oscar-winning actress plays tennis great Billie Jean King in upcoming movie Battle of the Sexes, which tells the story of King's glorious triumph over arrogant American tennis champion Bobby Riggs after he challenges her to a tennis match, boasting that he could beat any woman who stepped onto the tennis court.

Drawing terrifying parallels between the film and the recent 2016 American election, Stone told Out magazine: '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 [Carell] playing Bobby Riggs.

Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggspinterest
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Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs

'Obviously the way this has all panned out has been fascinating and horrifying, and it still feels like we're in a bad dream, but those parallels make sense to me - the equal-pay issue makes a lot of sense to me. At our best right now we're making 80 cents to the dollar.'

The 28-year-old actress - who was interviewed alongside King and co-star Andrea Riseborough - then spoke of her own experience of Hollywood's gender pay disparity, continuing: '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.

'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."'

'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.

'So much of [box office returns, billing] changes your pay throughout your career, so I go more to the blanket issue that women, in general, are making four fifths at best.'

King then interjected: 'White women. If you're African American or Hispanic it goes down, and then Asian Americans make 90 cents to the dollar.'

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Naomi Gordon

Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.