Betty MacDonald Fan Club

Betty MacDonald Fan Club. Join fans of the beloved writer Betty MacDonald (1907-58). The original Betty MacDonald Fan Club and literary Society. Welcome to Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society - the official Betty MacDonald Fan Club Website with members in 40 countries. Betty MacDonald, the author of The Egg and I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series is beloved all over the world. Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald biography and his very witty interviews on CD and DVD!

Showing posts with label Kevin Spacey and Ridley Scott. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Kevin Spacey and Ridley Scott

'All the Money in the World' director Ridley Scott wasn't 'completely surprised' by Kevin Spacey allegations

By ASHAN SINGH

ALEXA VALIENTE

Dec 21, 2017, 3:29 PM ET

Less than two months before the scheduled release of the movie, Scott had already completely cut the film and started on different movie when actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused Spacey of pushing him onto a bed and climbing on top of him during a party in the 80s, when Rapp was just 14 years old.

PHOTO: Kevin Spacey discusses his play Clarence Darrow at Build Studio on May 24, 2017 in New York City. — **Kevin Spacey discusses his play 'Clarence Darrow' at Build Studio on May 24, 2017 in New York City.**

Spacey claimed not to remember the incident but apologized for any hurt. In response to the allegations, Spacey tweeted in part "I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

Ridley Scott details how he replaced Kevin Spacey in 'All the Money in the World'

Christopher Plummer on 'starting over' with Kevin Spacey's 'All the Money in the World' role

Allegations from additional men soon followed. Scott says he wasn’t shocked when the revelations came out about Spacey.

“[I was] not completely surprised, and I knew there’s a bit of a reputation,” Scott, 80, told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “I keep out of that. I don’t concern myself with that. I don’t read tabloids. I don’t touch it. All I’m concerned about is the individual as an artist.”

Scott decided to recast and reshoot the film without Spacey, mere weeks from its late December release. ABC News' "Nightline" reached out to representatives for Spacey for comment regarding the reshooting, but they did not yet respond.

PHOTO: Christopher Plummer in a scene from All the Money in the World. — **Christopher Plummer in a scene from "All the Money in the World."**

Scott asked two-time Oscar winner Christopher Plummer to replace Spacey.

“He said, ‘Screw you. Why didn’t you offer it to me in the first place?’” Scott recalled.

Plummer slept on it, and then dived into the role.

“I was so excited. I wanted to do it immediately. And I was very surprised to find it was much longer than I thought it was. I thought, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ Two days later we were off to London and shooting,” Plummer, 88, told “Nightline.”

PHOTO: Michelle Williams in a scene from All the Money in the World. — **Michelle Williams in a scene from "All the Money in the World."**

Michelle Williams, who stars in the film as Gail Getty, fighting to get her son back from the Mafiosi holding him, said for Christopher Plummer, it was a lot of work to prepare.

“Ridley relished it. Ridley thought, ‘Great, they’re going to give us some money. Let’s do this. It’ll be fun, ‘cause it’ll be difficult,’” Williams told “Nightline.” Sony added another $10 million to cover costs.

The reshoot took nine 18-hour days, 22 scenes, and was filmed in two cities. They re-shot in London and Rome, but not in the Jordanian desert, from which Spacey was digitally erased. Plummer was instead shot on a green screen and inserted into the scene.

“If I’ve got Getty here, and I’ve got maybe the edge of Michelle there, then I have to reshoot that,” Scott said.

Williams was also needed back on set.

PHOTO: From left, Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Plummer, Michelle Williams, and Ridley Scott attend the premiere of All The Money In The World at Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Dec. 18, 2017 in Beverly Hills, Calif. — **From left, Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Plummer, Michelle Williams, and Ridley Scott attend the premiere of "All The Money In The World" at Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Dec. 18, 2017 in Beverly Hills, Calif.**

“I received a phone call from a producer and [they] said, ‘Please don’t talk to anybody about this, but would you, if we could?’ And I said, ‘Not only would I, but I’ll give you back my salary if that would help. And I’ll give you my Thanksgiving break, if that would help.’ And they, to their credit, they only took my Thanksgiving break,” Williams said.

Williams said she felt strongly in favor of reshooting the film.

“I had felt like, ‘Here we go again.’ Like, it’s all about the abuser. And that’s the tyranny of abuse is that it’s always about them, and we’re all living in the aftermath of their actions,” Williams said.

Williams didn't want everyone's hard work to go to waste.

“For no one is it more painful than the people whose lives were directly affected, but it certainly infiltrated our lives and our work and our families and our time. And to have all that for naught was just a shame. The woman who designed the costumes, and the man who shot it and the driver that I had in London, who’s now like the uncle to my daughter.”

Filmmaker accuses Kevin Spacey of groping him at a bar in 2003

'House of Cards' extends production hiatus amid investigation into Kevin Spacey sexual misconduct claims

Scott, Williams and Plummer all received Golden Globe nominations for the film.

“You can get a Globe nomination just for saying your lines! Which is about what I did,” Plummer said laughing. “We tried very hard to find warmth and some vulnerability in the old man. I concentrated on making him perhaps more human than he deserved.”

PHOTO: Mark Wahlberg, left, and Christopher Plummer, right, listening to director Ridley Scott on the set of All The Money In The World. — **Mark Wahlberg, left, and Christopher Plummer, right, listening to director Ridley Scott on the set of "All The Money In The World."**

“He’s absolutely beautiful. He’s mesmerizing,” Williams said of Plummer's interpretation. “Two very different actors, two very different performances. Totally different interpretations.”

Scott said he hasn’t spoken to Spacey and that Spacey hasn’t reached out to him. But he did say that he thinks Spacey’s work can still be praised in spite of what he may or may not have done in his private life.

“I think it’s a big endless debate and a big question, but I think yes, it should be. That film that he did, ‘American Beauty,’ is a great movie. What are you going to do, take that away from him? You can’t,” Scott said.

Scott admitted that there were only two people he had in mind when he was casting the role of John Paul Getty.

“That was it. And I made the wrong choice, didn’t I?” said Scott with a laugh.

“All the Money in the World” hits theaters on Christmas Day, just three days behind its original scheduled release date. And Scott claims he prefers Dec. 25, anyway.

Betty MacDonald, a very special politician and a year ago

Many ESC fans from all over the world are so very sad because we lost Joy Fleming - one of the best singers ever.

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sings 'Try to remember' especially for Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund at Vita Magica September

you can join

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald Society

Vita Magica

Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club

on Facebook

Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen

Vita Magica

Betty MacDonald

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald fan club on Facebook

Betty MacDonald forum

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( Polski)

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel -  cyclopaedia.net ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )

Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )

Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )

Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)

Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel

Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD

Betty MacDonald fan club items

Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments

Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I

Betty MacDonald fan club groups

Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Kevin Spacey and Ridley Scott

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.

Michele Manelis

December 13, 20171:35pm

Film trailer: All the Money in the World

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.

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

“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.”

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.”

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

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.”

Betty MacDonald, a very special politician and a year ago

Friday, November 10, 2017

Kevin Spacey and Ridley Scott

Kevin Spacey Is Literally Being Removed from His Next Film

Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World.

Ridley Scott is preparing to replace the disgraced star with Christopher Plummer.

Yohana Desta

November 9, 2017 8:53 am

Kevin Spacey, the disgraced actor who has been accused of sexual misconduct by numerous men, is getting dropped from his next film and replaced with Christopher Plummer. But here’s the twist: the movie, All the Money in the World, directed by Ridley Scott, is already finished and set for a Dec. 22 release—making the late replacement a rather unusual and bold decision.

Deadline reported the switch Wednesday night, noting that Scott is currently scheduling re-shoots with Plummer. Representatives for Scott confirmed the news to Vanity Fair. In the film, Spacey played J. Paul Getty, the oil tycoon who refused to pay a ransom when his grandson was kidnapped. The actor was nearly unrecognizable in the role, covered in makeup and prosthetics. Spacey ultimately worked on the film for about 8 to 10 days, as Getty is vital to the plot but not to the film’s adventurous story line. Per Deadline, the cast, crew, and Sony Pictures “agreed unanimously” to re-shoot the film with Plummer once the Spacey allegations began surfacing. Co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams will be cooperating with the shoots, Deadline adds.

Scott’s decision is a new sort of example of a filmmaker regaining control of his project once allegations threaten to overshadow it. The allegations against Spacey certainly seem to have destroyed his own career, but they’ve also marred projects for his collaborators. The film was previously pulled from the upcoming A.F.I. Festival, but it is still on track to hit its original Dec. 22 release date—a bullseye for awards-season consideration.

This is the second major production that has parted ways with Spacey in the wake of his sexual-misconduct scandal. Netflix essentially led the charge, announcing that it would no longer work with its onetime tentpole star. Spacey has since been cut from House of Cards, which is currently being re-written to exorcise him from its sixth-season story line. Netflix also decided not to move forward with Gore, a Gore Vidal biopic starring Spacey as the writer, even though that film was already in post-production when the misconduct allegations began.

There have also been more allegations against Spacey in the last 24 hours alone. Former newscaster Heather Unruh announced in a news conference on Wednesday that Spacey allegedly groped her son at a restaurant bar in 2016. Her son was 18 years old at the time. “Kevin Spacey bought him drink, after drink, after drink, and when my son was drunk, Spacey made his move and sexually assaulted him,” she claimed. “Spacey stuck his hands inside my son’s pants and grabbed his genitals.” Spacey has not yet responded to the allegations.

The Spacey aftermath mirrors the tremendous fallout that began shortly after the Harvey Weinstein scandal erupted. Numerous Weinstein Company films were stalled and pulled from release schedules as a result, while collaborators like Channing Tatum quickly canceled future planned projects. Other films, like Taylor Sheridan’s drama Wind River, came to an agreement that the Weinstein Company logo would be removed from future iterations, including streaming releases, home video releases, and awards-season screeners. In addition, T.W.C.’s future income from the film will be re-routed to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, a nonprofit organization.

After the allegations against him originally broke, Spacey apologized to actor Anthony Rapp (who made the allegations that opened up the floodgates), came out as gay, and announced that he is going to seek “evaluation and treatment.” Representatives for Spacey have not yet responded to V.F.’s request for comment about All the Money in the World.

Many ESC fans from all over the world are so very sad because we lost Joy Fleming - one of the best singers ever.

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sings 'Try to remember' especially for Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund at Vita Magica September

you can join

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald Society

Vita Magica

Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club

on Facebook

Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen

Vita Magica

Betty MacDonald

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald fan club on Facebook

Betty MacDonald forum

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( Polski)

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel -  cyclopaedia.net ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )

Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )

Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )

Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)

Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel

Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD

Betty MacDonald fan club items

Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments

Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I

Betty MacDonald fan club groups

Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

you can join

on Facebook

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Ridley Scott was furious at Kevin Spacey after allegations of sexual harassment

Film trailer: All the Money in the World

you can join

on Facebook

Friday, November 10, 2017

you can join

on Facebook

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me