Ridley Scott was furious at Kevin Spacey after allegations of sexual harassment
RIDLEY
Scott was furious at lead actor Kevin Spacey when news of sexual
harassment allegations broke. But that didn’t stop him completely
reshooting his film.
December 13, 20171:35pm
WHEN
Ridley Scott first got wind of sexual harassment allegations against
Kevin Spacey, the star of his latest thriller, All the Money in the
World, the Oscar-winning director didn’t waste a moment.
“I
waited for Mr Spacey to call me up, I expected him to call me up and
say what he wanted to say, but I got nothing, not even from his
representatives, which left me free to ‘just move forward, dude’,” Scott
said.
“So, I got on the phone to the cast. I said, ‘Will you come back [and reshoot]?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ I said, ‘For how much?’ They said, ‘For free.’ Everyone came back for nothing. That indicates how strong the feeling was. And by the way, there was no persuasion on my part whatsoever.”
But Scott’s solution would come at a hefty price. The reshoot (which meant revisiting locations in the UK and Italy) cost a reported US$10 million (a quarter of the film’s total budget). Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures, wasn’t convinced Scott could pull off switching lead actors and reshooting key scenes of an entire film weeks out from its original December release.
“When
Ridley came to me, I said to him, ‘In all honesty, it’s a brilliant
idea but it can’t be done.’ But Ridley said, ‘I can do it.’” Rothman
shook his head. “Maybe three or four filmmakers in the world could do
it, but I think only one of them would have the balls to try,” he
smiled. “And he did.”
Faced with a mammoth task ahead of him, Scott turned to Christopher Plummer to replace Spacey. Ironically, he was Scott’s first choice for the role of billionaire J. Paul Getty.
The story traces the real-life saga of the 1973 kidnapping of his then 16-year-old grandson John Paul Getty III, father of Hollywood actor Balthazar Getty. At the time, the studio overlooked Scott’s wishes and insisted on Spacey due to his A-list status.
In hindsight, does Scott regret succumbing to the studio’s demands of casting Spacey? “There were no regrets about casting until I finished the film and got this information,” he laughed. “In all honesty, I always seesawed between Chris Plummer and Kevin Spacey, but part of my job is what I call ‘putting bums in seats.’ And at that particular point, Kevin Spacey was inordinately well known for his role in five seasons of House of Cards. He was a valuable asset.”
“So, I got on the phone to the cast. I said, ‘Will you come back [and reshoot]?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ I said, ‘For how much?’ They said, ‘For free.’ Everyone came back for nothing. That indicates how strong the feeling was. And by the way, there was no persuasion on my part whatsoever.”
But Scott’s solution would come at a hefty price. The reshoot (which meant revisiting locations in the UK and Italy) cost a reported US$10 million (a quarter of the film’s total budget). Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures, wasn’t convinced Scott could pull off switching lead actors and reshooting key scenes of an entire film weeks out from its original December release.
The
allegations against Kevin Spacey broke after trailers for All the Money
in the World had been released — so it was remarkable Ridley Scott and
the team were able to re shoot the film.Source:Supplied
Faced with a mammoth task ahead of him, Scott turned to Christopher Plummer to replace Spacey. Ironically, he was Scott’s first choice for the role of billionaire J. Paul Getty.
The story traces the real-life saga of the 1973 kidnapping of his then 16-year-old grandson John Paul Getty III, father of Hollywood actor Balthazar Getty. At the time, the studio overlooked Scott’s wishes and insisted on Spacey due to his A-list status.
In hindsight, does Scott regret succumbing to the studio’s demands of casting Spacey? “There were no regrets about casting until I finished the film and got this information,” he laughed. “In all honesty, I always seesawed between Chris Plummer and Kevin Spacey, but part of my job is what I call ‘putting bums in seats.’ And at that particular point, Kevin Spacey was inordinately well known for his role in five seasons of House of Cards. He was a valuable asset.”
The
original poster for the film was promoting Kevin Spacey as the lead
star. The film’s other actors Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg were
quick to agree to a reshoot. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
It was back to the drawing board for the esteemed director. “Of
course I was annoyed that I had to do it all again, but I was also
afraid [if I hadn’t] that it would affect all the great work in the
film. So I had to do it,” Scott said and shrugged. “Once I let annoyance
get in my way, I switch it off and get on with it. So, I knew I was
going down the road to reshoot. It was a priority to me that I keep the
release of the film in place.”
Evidently, Scott’s first instincts were spot-on. The film snagged three Golden Globe nominations: one for himself as Best Director, Michelle Williams for Best Actress, and Plummer, for Best Supporting Actor.
When approached to fill the role, Plummer told Scott: “I said, ‘God, I don’t even have to read the script. I’d love to come and do something with you.’ I’d always wanted to work with Ridley. I read the script overnight.”
Four days later, Plummer was on set spouting lines from his dialogue-heavy role. “I think the pressure helped,” he said. “It seemed so impossible to do it in such a short period of time, so there was no point in being nervous. The one thing I worried about was that it was one monologue after another.”
As for replacing the disgraced actor, Plummer said firmly: “I really don’t want to get into it.”
What about the large age disparity between Spacey, 58, and Plummer, 87? Scott explained: “When Kevin did the role he needed a lot of prosthetics and make-up because he needed to be older. At Chris’s age, we didn’t need any make-up.”
Mark Wahlberg’s role as Getty’s adviser consisted of many scenes with Spacey, which, of course, needed to be redone with Plummer. He said: “When I found out about it I wasn’t angry, I was really saddened. Sad all-round. Ridley came to my hotel room to tell me what he was planning.”
Wahlberg smiled: “It’s always good to get a second crack at some scenes in a movie.
“It was amazing to see how quickly Ridley was able to turn it around. A lot of people worked hard on the movie, and for one person’s actions to disrupt everything was very unfair.”
He added: “I haven’t seen or heard from him (Spacey) since. We’ve known each other in passing but it was the first time we’ve worked together.”
Unlike Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, who plays Getty III’s mother Gail, is a little less reserved when it came to her feelings. “When they asked me to reshoot, I said: ‘Absolutely I will do it and if you need the salary back, I will give it to you.”
The
subject clearly elicits some heartfelt emotion. “I am angry for the
people that he hurt; I am angry on their behalf. A movie is less
important than a human life, so they are who my heart goes out to
because the tyranny of abuse is that it’s always about [the
perpetrators].
“So I know those people are still dealing with what happened to them. And here we are all now still talking about him!” she said. “And so my anger [comes from this abusive experience with Spacey] that upstaged their lives, and [from the thought] that they are still having to deal with it.”
Composing herself, Williams continued: “As far as the news, it was shocking.” Now that Hollywood is experiencing a watershed moment which will hopefully change the culture forever, she said: “The last couple of months have felt like this structure all around us is crumbling. It needed to crumble. But sometimes a brick hits you on the head and you are like, ‘Ow. That hurt,’ but I am glad that the thing is falling down.”
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Evidently, Scott’s first instincts were spot-on. The film snagged three Golden Globe nominations: one for himself as Best Director, Michelle Williams for Best Actress, and Plummer, for Best Supporting Actor.
When approached to fill the role, Plummer told Scott: “I said, ‘God, I don’t even have to read the script. I’d love to come and do something with you.’ I’d always wanted to work with Ridley. I read the script overnight.”
Four days later, Plummer was on set spouting lines from his dialogue-heavy role. “I think the pressure helped,” he said. “It seemed so impossible to do it in such a short period of time, so there was no point in being nervous. The one thing I worried about was that it was one monologue after another.”
As for replacing the disgraced actor, Plummer said firmly: “I really don’t want to get into it.”
What about the large age disparity between Spacey, 58, and Plummer, 87? Scott explained: “When Kevin did the role he needed a lot of prosthetics and make-up because he needed to be older. At Chris’s age, we didn’t need any make-up.”
Mark Wahlberg’s role as Getty’s adviser consisted of many scenes with Spacey, which, of course, needed to be redone with Plummer. He said: “When I found out about it I wasn’t angry, I was really saddened. Sad all-round. Ridley came to my hotel room to tell me what he was planning.”
Wahlberg smiled: “It’s always good to get a second crack at some scenes in a movie.
“It was amazing to see how quickly Ridley was able to turn it around. A lot of people worked hard on the movie, and for one person’s actions to disrupt everything was very unfair.”
He added: “I haven’t seen or heard from him (Spacey) since. We’ve known each other in passing but it was the first time we’ve worked together.”
Unlike Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, who plays Getty III’s mother Gail, is a little less reserved when it came to her feelings. “When they asked me to reshoot, I said: ‘Absolutely I will do it and if you need the salary back, I will give it to you.”
Michelle
Williams has been nominated for a Golden Globe for her work in the
movie, weeks after she offered to return her salary so it could be
reshot. Picture: Fabio Lovino/Sony-TriStar Pictures via APSource:AP
“So I know those people are still dealing with what happened to them. And here we are all now still talking about him!” she said. “And so my anger [comes from this abusive experience with Spacey] that upstaged their lives, and [from the thought] that they are still having to deal with it.”
Composing herself, Williams continued: “As far as the news, it was shocking.” Now that Hollywood is experiencing a watershed moment which will hopefully change the culture forever, she said: “The last couple of months have felt like this structure all around us is crumbling. It needed to crumble. But sometimes a brick hits you on the head and you are like, ‘Ow. That hurt,’ but I am glad that the thing is falling down.”
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