Kevin Spacey Ousted! Dizzying Cost Of Rushed Recast With Christopher Plummer In ‘All The Money In The World’
Kevin Spacey, the embattled Hollywood star, has been officially removed from the cast line-up of Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World movie. The decision to ax the Oscar-winning actor was made just weeks prior to its set release date, so it means that the director will have to spend more on the production cost.
Ridley Scott decided to drop Kevin Spacey after he was accused of sexual harassment. The scandal is escalating as more and more people are coming out to accuse Spacey, thus Scott had no choice but to replace him with The Sound of Music’s Christopher Plummer.
Spacey was cast as J. Paul Getty Sr. in the autobiographical crime film All The Money In The World, and it is one of the key roles. Needless to say, the character has a lot of scenes so the reshoot will cost millions and overall, it will not be easy.
According to Variety, the last-minute change will force Ridley Scott to spend at least $10 million more. The film, with the original play date of Dec. 22, already burned up its $40 million budget and it can be said that with the estimated additional cost, the expenses are quite a setback in the production.
Replacing Kevin Spacey in 'All the Money in the World' will cost Imperative Entertainment millions of dollars https://t.co/mirctqUCBQ pic.twitter.com/1L0zups1qa
— Variety (@Variety) November 12, 2017
Moreover, apart from reshooting Kevin Spacey’s scenes in the movie, the All The Money In The World’s trailers that were already released in theaters for promotion would have to be reproduced as well. The production team also needs to redo the posters and other print materials with Spacey’s picture and name removed as one of the cast members.
Reprinting, cutting of the film, editing, and redistribution of materials are definitely too much work considering there is also very little time left to do everything. The take-down costs, rush fees, and extra advertising materials already add up to millions, and the actors and staff fees will take up another huge chunk of the additional budget.
“This would be an out-of-pocket decision. The cost will be a lot, and I think it will be 100 percent the production’s cost,” Variety quoted Angela Plasschaert, an expert in entertainment risk management, as saying.
Christopher Plummer is expected to reshoot Kevin Spacey’s scenes in 10 days while Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams, who will also be called back to do their parts again, will need to spend another two weeks for reshoots. However, observers think that they may exceed that given time since the scenes have to be refined.
Finally, Variety further reported that the additional cost is likely to be shouldered by the production team’s own pocket since this situation is not covered by any kind of insurance policy.
[Featured Image by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Sony Pictures]
