Changes: All the Money in the World (Kevin Spacey version)

Revision as of 15:53, 22 October 2020

All the Money in the World was a 2017 drama film based on the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer (who earned a Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor as J. Paul Getty) and Mark Wahlberg. Originally, Kevin Spacey was cast as Plummer's character, J. Paul Getty, with principal photography concluding in August of 2017.

On October 5, 2017, the New York Times published a report compiling a significant amount of uninvestigated sexual misconduct claims that had been issued against film executive Harvey Weinstein over the course of several decades. The report demolished public faith in Weinstein, leading to his termination from The Weinstein Company, and resulted in a deluge of sexual misconduct claims against multiple other high-profile individuals (including Paul Haggis, Bryan Singer, Louis C.K., Jeremy Piven, Woody Allen, Steven Seagal, Matt Lauer, Brett Ratner, The Loud House creator Chris Savino, James Toback, Jeffrey Tambor, Children of Men, Son of Rambow and Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick, Danny Masterson, Catfish host Nev Schulman, John Lasseter, Lars von Trier, Garry Shandling (posthumous), Smallville and The Ant Bully actress Allison Mack, Charlie Sheen, Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down actor Tom Sizemore and Dan Schneider) worldwide, a phenomenon coloquially dubbed "the Weinstein Effect" and would become the MeToo and Time's Up movement. One of the first allegations made in light of the Weinstein exposé occurred 24 days later, when Star Trek: Discovery, Rent and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of molesting him in 1986; Rapp was just fourteen years old at the time. Within days, over a dozen other men who worked with Spacey on various projects accused him of sexual misconduct as well, ranging from harassment to assault. As a result, on November 8th, 2017, Ridley Scott made the decision to reshoot all of Spacey's scenes with Christopher Plummer as a replacement for his role (incidentally, Plummer was Ridley Scott's original choice to play Getty, but production asked for Kevin Spacey because he was more famous and would attract more viewers).

In the final version of the released film, Spacey can still be seen in one wide shot. Additionally, a trailer containing footage of Spacey was released in September, before Rapp's accusations against Spacey came to light.

It is not known if all of Spacey's scenes will ever be released. Ridley Scott himself said that this will happen "over [his] dead body".

Why It Was Cancelled

The scenes with Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty were reshot following the sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey from numerous men (including Anthony Rapp) who accused him of sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment, pedophilia, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct during the MeToo and Time's Up movement, all of which he has denied.
On November 8, 2017, Sony and the film's production team unanimously opted to replace Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty with Christopher Plummer. The decision was made just over a month prior to the December 22nd wide release.
Christopher Plummer claimed he was prepared to replace Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty on short notice because he had previously been considered for the role and had read the script. He had less than two weeks to memorize his lines, but did have the advantage of having met Getty in London at a couple of his parties during the '60s.
Director Ridley Scott said that one interesting aspect of re-filming all of Kevin Spacey's scenes with Christopher Plummer is that Spacey played J. Paul Getty as a more explicitly cold and unfeeling character, while Plummer's take on the role showed both a warmer side to the billionaire, but the same unflinching refusal to simply pay off his grandson's kidnappers. Scott also stated that neither Spacey nor his representatives had called him since Spacey's history of sexual harassment was revealed, and added that he had no plans to release the footage with Spacey to any public viewing forum.
The decision to re-film the Kevin Spacey footage with Christopher Plummer as a replacement meant that twenty-two scenes had to be re-shot.
The film was originally going to have its premiere at the AFI Fest, but Sony withdrew the film following a series of sexual assault allegations made against Kevin Spacey and was replaced with Molly's Game.
Michelle Williams said that she would have felt unable to promote the film if Kevin Spacey had stayed in it because she felt so much affinity for the people that he had hurt.

Result

The re-shoots needed to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer took eight days to film at a cost of $10 million. It also involved Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams having to return to the Rome set during the Thanksgiving holiday of 2017.
Mark Wahlberg had lost thirty pounds for his next film when he was asked to come back for re-shoots. His costumes had to be refitted.
According to Business Insider, despite Kevin Spacey's replacement, there is one quick shot in the desert where he can still be seen.
Michelle Williams was paid "over 1,000 times less" than Mark Wahlberg for the re-shoots despite having higher billing than he. Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million, while Williams received just $1,000 for the week's work. Many of initial reports neglect to mention that Williams herself requested to go without pay entirely, that Wahlberg shot many more scenes with Plummer than she did, or that Wahlberg's contract allowed him to approve co-stars, reportedly refusing to approve Plummer as Spacey's replacement unless he was paid extra. After news of the discrepancy came to light, Wahlberg donated his entire re-shoot salary to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund in Williams' name. His agency, WME (which is also Williams' agency), donated an additional $500,000.
After Kevin Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer, director Ridley Scott decided not to show Plummer any footage of Spacey in character, or even tell him how Spacey played the scenes. When finished, Scott found both performances to be quite different and equally effective in their own particular styles.
Christopher Plummer ended up earning a Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as J. Paul Getty.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 *Director Ridley Scott said that one interesting aspect of re-filming all of Kevin Spacey's scenes with Christopher Plummer is that Spacey played J. Paul Getty as a more explicitly cold and unfeeling character, while Plummer's take on the role showed both a warmer side to the billionaire, but the same unflinching refusal to simply pay off his grandson's kidnappers. Scott also stated that neither Spacey nor his representatives had called him since Spacey's history of sexual harassment was revealed, and added that he had no plans to release the footage with Spacey to any public viewing forum.
 *The decision to re-film the Kevin Spacey footage with Christopher Plummer as a replacement meant that twenty-two scenes had to be re-shot.
-*The film was originally going to have its premiere at the AFI Fest, but Sony withdrew the film following a series of sexual assault allegations made against Kevin Spacey.
+*The film was originally going to have its premiere at the AFI Fest, but Sony withdrew the film following a series of sexual assault allegations made against Kevin Spacey and was replaced with Molly's Game.
 *Michelle Williams said that she would have felt unable to promote the film if Kevin Spacey had stayed in it because she felt so much affinity for the people that he had hurt.