It was recently revealed that the upcoming Ridley Scott film, All the Money in the World, would make the risky move of replacing one of its actors with less than a month until the film’s release.

Speaking with EW, director Ridley Scott opened up for the first time about the moment when he became aware of the accusations against actor Kevin Spacey, who had originally been a part of the film.

“I was finished with the film and was in [U.K. recording studio] Abbey Road finalizing the music. 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.”

The solution? Recast Spacey’s role in the film and reshoot all those scenes as quickly as possible and cut them into the film. Upon hearing about these accusations and making the decision to replace Spacey, Scott moved quickly (and quietly) to get things done.

“You have to know who you’re going to go for [to recast the role] and if he’s available. Chris [Plummer] was always on the list. So you find that out, but quietly, because you don’t want it going around. I flew into New York and met with [Plummer] and he said yes. So then we had to figure out if everyone else would be available to fit in these new days of shooting. Miraculously, they were. 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. You don’t say why because of the gossip, but of course it was really for something much more significant… It was better to do it like this because once you inform the system, it’s everywhere. Once two people know what it’s about, bang, it’s all out there.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFmpuUnIFs

If you’ve had a chance to check out the new trailer for the film, it looks like they’ve succeeded in getting the job done quickly and effectively. It undoubtedly caused many sleepless nights for Scott, but it doesn’t sound like he’s very angry about the whole ordeal.

“I think it was about time. Harvey [Weinstein] definitely was way overdue. There will still be a few more people out there gritting their teeth who are way overdue.”

Are you excited to see how all the changes in All the Money in the World turned out? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: EW