At the world premiere of his restored 1972 film Last Tango In Paris, Italian director and screenwriter Bernardo Bertolucci revealed that he wants to make a film with Kevin Spacey.
The 77-year-old explained that when he heard fellow director Ridley Scott had replaced Spacey with Christopher Plummer in All The Money In the World amidst Spacey's sexual assault allegations, his instinct was not to applaud him, but to contact his editor Pietro Scalia, "to tell Scott he should be ashamed," The Hollywood Reporter states.
Scott was previously championed for his last-minute decision to scrub Spacey from the film, and was further lauded for pulling off a complete re-shoot of Spacey's scenes in a record nine days.
Bertolucci was apparently not impressed. After expressing his disdain for Scott's decision to the audience at the Bari International Film Festival, Bertolucci continued, "And then I immediately wanted to make a film with Spacey." The audience reportedly applauded his statement.
Ironically, the director went on to assert that he agrees with the #MeToo movement, praising the awareness its brought to violence against women. Bertolucci himself is no stranger to controversy, as the film he was premiering that night had come under fire when it was revealed that details regarding the staged rape scene were withheld from the film's lead actress, Maria Schneider. It was said that information about the scene was held back in order to elicit a more realistic reaction from Schneider on set. Schneider later admitted that she, "felt a little raped, both by Marlon Brando (her co-star) and Bertolucci."
Later that night, Bertolucci was honored with the Federico Fellini Platinum lifetime achievement award. Another director, Giuseppe Tornatore, presented Bertolucci with the award. Tornatore has also been accused by women of the #MeToo movement in Italy.
