Ridley Scott finally speaks about All the Money in the World reshoots

When allegations of sexual assault came out against Kevin Spacey people began to wonder about the future of his numerous upcoming projects. One of them was the upcoming Oscar hopeful, ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, which saw Spacey playing billionaire J. Paul Getty. It was soon announced his scenes would be replaced with actor Christopher Plummer, and for the first time director Ridley Scott has opened up about the drastic change.

Speaking with EW, Scott spoke candidly about the decision to replace Spacey with Plummer, and how once the news about Spacey came to him it didn’t take long to come to the decision to replace him:

I was finished with the film and was in [U.K. recording studio] Abbey Road finalizing the music. Someone was like: Guess what? And that’s where it began. I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.

Handling the situation had to be very delicate though, and he remembers contacting Plummer first, and then having to go out and make sure everyone else was on board to come back for the extensive reshoots:

You have to know who you’re going to go for [to recast the role] and if he’s available. Chris [Plummer] was always on the list. So you find that out, but quietly, because you don’t want it going around. I flew into New York and met with [Plummer] and he said yes. So then we had to figure out if everyone else would be available to fit in these new days of shooting. Miraculously, they were. Before you can make the decision you have to make these quick phone calls around — not to the actors directly, but to the agents — saying there’s a possibility I may need some pickups [a.k.a. additional shooting days]. You don’t say why because of the gossip, but of course it was really for something much more significant.

None of these phone calls included talking to Spacey, as Scott says that he didn’t call the actor, nor did Spacey call him. Everything happened so fast, but it had to be done, and among all the chaos never for a moment did Scott think about pushing the release date. He knows how talented he is, and has no problem revealing why he knew he could keep the original December 22 date:

Because I know I can deliver. [Laughs] I move like lightning. 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 — the wide shots, close shots, establishing shots. You’ve gotten some of your weird ideas when you’re quietly sitting, storyboarding by yourself. After a while you learn to trust and listen to your intuition. And I listen to mine. I trust it.

Scott then says the movie is already done with the shooting, and aside from a few technical tinkerings, is all set to be seen in time to qualify for awards season, and to get critic screenings. He has already started reconnaissance work for his next movie, which is the adaptation of the book “The Cartel.”

The news about Spacey and the decision to cut him out of the movie, and to do it all in a matter of weeks, was unlike anything any of us has ever seen. We all assumed the movie would get pushed back, but now here we are several weeks later and Plummer is done with his work and there’s an entirely different actor in the trailers. Though I don’t know if it will contribute to the success of the movie, there’s something almost mythical about the movie now that makes it required viewing. 

ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD with Plummer, Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg arrives December 22.