Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, based on John Pearson's 1995 Jean Paul Getty book Painfully Rich, hit theaters Christmas Day. The film chronicles the abduction of John Paul Getty III and stars Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and Christopher Plummer. For anyone who meticulously follows trailers and promo campaigns, however, the inclusion of Plummer stands as one of the most remarkable reshooting feats in recent film history.
As previously reported, Plummer's role—Jean Paul Getty—originally belonged to disgraced House of Cards star Kevin Spacey. Following a slew of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Spacey (and his subsequent non-apology), Scott and Imperative Entertainment made the decision in November to replace Spacey with Plummer without pushing back the film's release. In a new interview with NPR, Scott revealed just how quickly that decision was made.
"In a heartbeat—took about 20 minutes," Scott said Monday, "because I can't let one person's actions affect the film to the extent that we may not have actually released it. I couldn't let that happen."
Producers Bradley Thomas and Dan Friedkin were immediately supportive of Scott's decision, even throwing him an extra $10 million to pull it off. The reshoot spanned nine days and consisted of 22 scenes, all of which were completed just four days ahead of a rough cut screening for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Scott's team wasn't able to return to Jordan for some of the reshoots, resulting in the use of a green screen for a few scenes. Wahlberg and Williams also participated in the reshooting effort. "That was a rush, but I love a rush, you know?" Scott toldNPR. "Filmmaking is my adrenaline."
So far, that adrenaline seems to have paid off for All the Money in the World. Critics have praised Plummer's last-minute performance, helping the film hold down a respectable 79 percent average on Rotten Tomatoes.
