by Ben Miller
a performance that will be erased -- Kevin Spacey in "All the Money in the World"
On Wednesday night, I was talking to my wife about All the Money in the World. The upcoming thriller from director Ridley Scott features the true story of billionaire J. Paul Getty and his involvement with the kidnappers of his grandson. I brought it up because (alleged) serial sexual harasser Kevin Spacey was set to play Getty.
My discussion focused on how unfair it was to Scott, stars Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, and especially young Charlie Plummer, who is poised for a breakout role as the aforementioned kidnapped grandson. Just because Spacey is a terrible human doesn’t mean the people involved in a production should suffer.
The backlash from Spacey’s allegations was swift...
The AFI Fest announcing on Monday they were pulling All the Money in the World from their closing night premiere schedule. The film was still set to be released on its December 22 date, but the buzz for the film had fallen off a cliff. Many pundits had slotted Spacey in as a potential Best Supporting Actor nominee for the film (Nathaniel had him as a potential back-up), but as soon as the allegations started pouring in, there were tweets like this one.
Part of the talk about Spacey in the film was his performance. What if it was revelatory? How good would he have to be to even break back into the Oscar conversation? Is there no level? Why do we give some artists a pass for past sins while immediately vilifying Spacey? There is a momentous can of worms that can be opened with this discussion.
30 minutes after our discussion, the news broke that Scott will replace Spacey with Oscar-winner Christopher Plummer in the film.
All the Money in the World is still planning on hitting its Christmas week opening. Scott said he will reshoot all of Spacey’s scenes with Plummer while Williams and Wahlberg are coming back in for said reshoots. It will be like Spacey never worked on the film.
This is a really big deal.
This venture of erasing Spacey cannot be cheap. Supposedly, he only worked on the film for eight days and many of his scenes were by himself, but the scenes from the trailer show the deserts of Jordan and the mansions of Italy. Scott and his producers must have realized how DOA the film will be with Spacey still attached. Plus, the director actually gets his way; he wanted Plummer in the first place, but was overruled by the producers who wanted a bigger name in the role.
This signals something profound to Hollywood. Producers and directors can be silenced from films they worked on because they were behind the scenes. Actors have the luxury of being the face of those films. With this announcement, the world has shown that no one is above being replaced, no matter the cost.
Spacey's next picture "Billionaire Boy's Club" is currently in post-production. The film stars Jeremy Irvine, Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton, Thomas Cocquerel and more...
Spacey’s career is in serious jeopardy (by his own hand). Netflix announced the cancellation of his Gore Vidal biopic, while the only other upcoming film is Billionaire Boys Club. Could the new production company Armory Films do the same thing Scott did?
I see this as a best case scenario for the film. This announcement may be a cloud that hangs over the release, but for once in Hollywood, the right thing is being done.