Ridley Scott is sort of amazing. At 79 years old he’s still one of the busiest, most efficient directors around. Just a few months ago we were talking about his Alien: Covenant, and we quickly had to turn around to discuss his potential Oscars film, All the Money in the World. That’s just the start, though. In the wake of allegations made against Kevin Spacey, Scott quickly decided to replace him with his original choice, Christopher Plummer, mere weeks away from release and awards voting. It was a crazy gamble, but it might just pay off.
Speaking with EW, Scott says he decided immediately what needed to be done once the claims against Spacey were made. This despite the studio’s initial lack of confidence…
“They were like, ‘You’ll never do it. God be with you.’ [Laughs]…“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.”
And if you thought Scott wasn’t going to get this thing done in time, think again. A new TV spot, which you can see below, has already been released with Plummer in the role of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who refuses to pay the ransom to save his kidnapped grandson.
“I move like lightning. I’m already two scenes ahead. It’s simple! If you know what you’re doing, you don’t need 19 takes. You do one for the actor, one for me. It’s all planned out. When you storyboard, you’ve already pre-filmed the movie in your head — the wide shots, close shots, establishing shots. You’ve gotten some of your weird ideas when you’re quietly sitting, storyboarding by yourself. After a while you learn to trust and listen to your intuition. And I listen to mine. I trust it.”
He continued, “I’ve been shooting since Monday [Nov. 20] and in with the editor every night since then. We’re not dealing with celluloid anymore; it’s all digital, and I send [the footage each day] to [editor Claire Simpson] and she cuts it, and I can go in and look after shooting. Everything I’ve shot is already in [the final cut] up through yesterday morning.”
And if Scott pulls off the impossible and this film turns out to be great, it only bumps up his chances at an Oscar. Who’s not going to want to vote for him after something like this? What he’s doing takes balls.
All the Money in the World also stars Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, opening December 26th.
