Ridley Scott's drama about the true story of the Getty family, All The Money In The World, is set to come out next month, on December 22. It features an all star cast led by Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and, until very recently, Kevin Spacey. The film was completely finished and had an official trailer. Now, in the wake of the sexual assault allegations against Spacey, Scott is making an unprecedented move in film history: reshooting all of Spacey's scenes with a new actor while still adhering to the December 22 release date.
Spacey will be replaced by Christopher Plummer (the captain in The Sound of Music) in the pivotal role of J. Paul Getty, the oil tycoon who refused to pay his 16-year-old grandson's ransom after he was kidnapped. Williams, Wahlberg, and the entire rest of the cast and crew all agreed unanimously to reshoot Spacey's scenes, Deadlinereports. The film had been set to close out the AFI Film Festival but has been pulled.
Spacey's role took between eight and 10 days to film, and his character plays a pivotal part in the story of the film. Scott has once before reshot parts of a film, when Oliver Reed died during production of Gladiator, though this comes under very different circumstances. No other major film has ever attempted reshoots so close to its release--even Woody Allen's September (1987), which saw the director recast and reshoot several actors after editing, had its changes come well before the film was scheduled for distribution.
Take a look at the now defunct trailer for All The Money In The World, below: