Kevin Spacey Booted from Upcoming Movie, Replaced by Christopher Plummer

In an almost completely unprecedented move, Sony Pictures and Ridley Scott have announced that they're kicking Kevin Spacey out of their upcoming film All the Money in the World and reshooting his scenes with Christopher Plummer. According to Deadline Hollywood, the film still plans on maintaining its December 22 release date, which means that they're going to have to move fast. Plummer is a terrific actor and more than capable, but he's also gonna be 88 next month which means they'll need to also move cautiously.

Spacey was cast as billionaire oil tycoon John Paul Getty—in the film based on the true 1973 kidnapping of his grandson—and had been featured in all of the trailers and promotional material for the film. Then he was accused last month of untoward conduct with several different people, some as young as fourteen, and Spacey became instantly toxic, perhaps dooming the film's fate. Since this is Hollywood, however, nobody's tanking this movie that was poised to be an Oscar contender, and director Ridley Scott has decided to remove Spacey's taint from the film and replace it with the gravitas of Christopher Plummer. At least Plummer won't be buried under layers of ridiculous looking pancake makeup. 

As I said earlier, this is an unprecedented move this close to a film's release, so who knows how it will turn out and/or affect the film in any way. It's bound to keep it in the discussion at year's end, which is always a bonus. Publicity's publicity whether it's good or bad. We'll keep you posted with any updates.