In a move that makes it pretty obvious just how poisonous Kevin Spacey has become since the allegations about him sexually assaulting underage boys came out, Ridley Scott and Imperative Entertainment have decided to completely remove Spacey from All The Money In The World, a movie that was not only finished, but also had a trailer and was set to make its debut at AFI Fest this month—at least until Sony pulled it at the last minute. This comes from Deadline, which says “key scenes” featuring Spacey will now be reshot with Christopher Plummer replacing him as oil tycoon J. Paul Getty.
The entire cast and crew of the film—including Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams—”unanimously agreed” to reshoot all of Spacey’s scenes, with the Scott and producer Dan Friedkin reportedly “incensed that the sordid allegations against Spacey might doom a film that Scott dropped everything to direct, and on which so many people worked hard.” Spacey’s performance was generating some Oscar buzz up until Sony pulled its promotional campaign, so this is clearly a movie that people weren’t ready to simply give up on.
Deadline says that Spacey only spent “eight to ten days” working on All The Money In The World, and that most of the action revolves around Wahlberg and Williams trying to recover the kidnapped heir to the Getty empire. That means this won’t be a huge issue logistically, which is especially good considering that Scott is “determined” to keep the film at tis December 22 release date.