Ridley Scott Reveals Why He Dropped Kevin Spacey From Upcoming Movie

Director Ridley Scott has no complaints about Kevin Spacey’s performance in his film, “All the Money in the World.” In fact, the director said the actor is extremely talented and they get along really well.

However, after Spacey’s sexual abuse claims surfaced, Scott had no choice but to replace him. Scott told Entertainment Weekly that he was finalizing the music for the film in a U.K. recording studio when he heard the news about Spacey. “Someone was like: Guess what? And that’s where it began. I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple,” he said.

The first actor Scott thought of to replace Spacey was Christopher Plummer. He called the actor up and when they met in New York, Plummer said yes to the project.

“So then we had to figure out if everyone else would be available to fit in these new days of shooting. Miraculously, they were,” Scott continued. “Before you can make the decision you have to make these quick phone calls around — not to the actors directly, but to the agents — saying there’s a possibility I may need some pickups [a.k.a. additional shooting days]. You don’t say why because of the gossip, but of course it was really for something much more significant.”

Scott added that he did not call Spacey, nor did the actor phone him about the film. He said things might have gone down differently if Spacey had called to apologized, but in the end, he still would have replaced him.

“All the Love in the World” was not the only movie Spacey lost after his scandals broke out. Netflix and Media Rights Capital (MRC) decided not to release Spacey’s film, “Gore,” and he also lost his lead role in the political drama “House of Cards,” according to Business Insider.

CBS also cut ties with the actor and removed him from the 50th anniversary special of “The Carol Burnett Show.”