Ridley Scott has spoken out for the first time about having to replace Kevin Spacey in his upcoming film All The Money In The World.
The movie has had to undergo reshoots in recent weeks after Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer following the slew of accusations of sexual misconduct, assault and harassment that have been made against the House of Cards actor in the past month or so. Spacey issued a statement following the claims, saying that he was “taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment”.
With All The Money In The World still set to be released on December 22, Scott has now addressed the challenge of having to replace Spacey so late into the production process.
Asked when he first heard about the allegations that were being made against Spacey, Scott told Entertainment Weekly: “I was finished with the film and was in Abbey Road finalising 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 behaviour 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.”
Adding that he’d been “totally” happy with Spacey’s performance in the old version of the film, Scott said that he hadn’t spoken to Spacey since the news of the allegations broke.
“No. And he didn’t call me. If he had called me and said, ‘Hey, look, this is the way it is and I’m really sorry,’ then I’d have handled it slightly differently.”
Asked what would’ve happened if Spacey had called and apologised, Scott said that he still would’ve fired him from the movie.
“I’d have still done it. I would have said, ‘Yes, thank you for calling, but I have to move on.'”
The first trailer for the re-shot All The Money In The World was released yesterday (November 29), showing Plummer in action as Spacey’s replacement.