Delete Spacey, add Plummer
Director Ridley Scott says revamped All the Money in the World almost ready
After actor Anthony Rapp and a slew of others accused Oscar winner Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct, director Ridley Scott made a major statement by replacing Spacey with veteran Canadian actor Christopher Plummer in the film All the Money in the World. The craziest part was that the movie had already been shot and was slated for a Dec. 22 release.
But, as Scott revealed during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, he knew it had to be done — and he was confident he could make the necessary changes while still hitting his première date.
“You can’t tolerate any kind of behaviour like that,” Scott said. “We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.”
Scott didn’t call Spacey about making the switch, nor did the actor reach out to the director.
“If he had called me and said, ‘Hey, look, this is the way it is and I’m really sorry,’ then I’d have handled it slightly differently,” Scott said. No matter what, though, Scott was set on hiring a new actor to take over.
Mere weeks ago, Scott tapped Plummer to replace Spacey in the role of the late billionaire J. Paul Getty in the drama about the reallife kidnapping of Getty’s grandson. Already, though, many of the key scenes have been reshot and edited into the film.
“I move like lightning,” Scott said. “I’m already two scenes ahead. It’s simple! If you know what you’re doing, you don’t need 19 takes. You do one for the actor, one for me. It’s all planned out. When you storyboard, you’ve already pre-filmed the movie in your head.”
Earlier this week, a new trailer featuring Plummer was already on YouTube. As Scott remarked, this would never have been possible working with celluloid, but digital filming makes the editing process much more efficient.
Plummer immediately agreed to the role when Scott flew out to New York and offered it. In fact, some reports said Plummer had been Scott’s first choice for the role, until the studio pushed for the (then) bigger named Spacey.
Plummer has acknowledged recently “the situation is very sad, because (Spacey is) such a talented guy. “The whole circumstance is sad,” Plummer said. “But I’ve got to forget that and go and do it, because it’s a very well-written script and Ridley has been very good.”
His co-star Michelle Williams was less sympathetic. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, she said replacing Spacey made her feel better about releasing the movie.
“This doesn’t do anything to ease the suffering of people who were all too personally affected by Kevin Spacey, but it is our little act of trying to right a wrong,” she said. “And it sends a message to predators — you can’t get away with this anymore. Something will be done.”