Bernardo Bertolucci Slams Ridley Scott For Replacing Kevin Spacey In Film

Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci is not happy with fellow director Ridley Scott, especially after the latter decided to have Kevin Spacey replaced in the film “All the Money in the World.”

Spacey is an undeniably good actor, but after he was accused of sexual misconduct by several men, he was booted out from his film and TV projects. In “All the Money in the World,” he was replaced by Christopher Plummer in his role as J. Paul Getty even though they were already done filming.

During the world premiere of the restored film, “Last Tango in Paris,” Bertolucci told Scott’s editor Pietro Scalia “to tell Scott that he should be ashamed” for caving into public pressure and replacing Spacey, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Bertolucci explained that he is one with the #MeToo movement, and he does not condone violence against anyone. However, he does not think it was right to boot Spacey out just because the public was crying out for Spacey’s blood. “And then I immediately wanted to make a film with Spacey,” he continued.

Bertolucci himself has been accused of sexual misconduct. Maria Schneider, the star of “The Last Tango in Paris,” cried foul several years ago over the controversial butter rape scene involving Marlon Brando.

Bertolucci and Brando did not inform Schneider about certain elements of the rape scene in order to generate a more genuine response from her. However, withholding the information only infuriated Schneider.

“I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take,” she told the Daily Mail back in 2007.

“Marlon said to me: ‘Maria, don’t worry, it’s just a movie,’ but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn’t real, I was crying real tears,” she added.

When the interview resurfaced, many celebrities took Schneider’s side and expressed dismay and anger over what Bertolucci did.

However, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who helmed the butter knife scene, came to the defense of Bertolucci. “I was there. We were doing a movie. You don’t do it for real. I was there with two cameras and nothing happened,” he said. “Nobody was raping anybody.

“I think the journalists are making an issue that is not really an issue. I read that there was a kind of violence made on her but that’s not true. That’s not true at all,” he added.