We always knew lauded British director Sir Ridley Scott was prodigious – the man has released pretty much a film every year since 2010, after all. But his newest feat pretty much takes the cake: in the space of just over two weeks (19 days, to be exact), Scott has totally removed alleged serial sexual harasser Kevin Spacey from his new film All The Money In The World, replacing him with the always excellent Christopher Plummer.
Seriously, how does anyone move that fast? It takes me about two weeks to mow my front lawn (I do that shit in installments); how did Scott get Plummer prepped, his key cast back on set, his technical crew back in the groove, his locations re-booked all in the space of 19 measly day?
I mean of course, none of us have seen the film yet – the real coup will be if Scott has pulled off something actually good in that time period. It’s hard to judge quality from the trailer: the thing seems a little heavy-handed and brooding for my tastes, but hey, it could be a larf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXHrCBkIxQQ&t=54s
And also, not to be a cynic, but it’s worth pointing out that it was very much in Scott’s interests to move at the speed that he did. He has essentially completely changed the media narrative surround his film: the story is now not, “New Ridley Scott movie features well-known harasser in the lead role”, but, “New Ridley Scott movie got reshot and recut in basically no damn time at all.” Scott clearly wanted his film to have some awards season heft – the original trailer featuring Spacey had Oscar bait written all over it. Maybe now he’s pulled off the impossible and swapped out one of his key actors, critics will look more kindly upon him?
All The Money In The World hits Australian cinemas on Thursday January 4.
