Filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott regrets choosing youth over the better fit when it came to casting his new film All The Money In The World, insisting he should have chosen Christopher Plummer over Kevin Spacey.
The two actors were both considered for the role of billionaire J. Paul Getty but Scott chose Spacey – and then had to cut the American Beauty star from the completed film after allegations about sexual misconduct swirled around the Oscar winner.
The Brit turned to Plummer for the reshoots and now insists he should have picked The Sound of Music star in the first place.
“The film is pretty challenging, there are a lot of scenes, a lot of dialogue, so I went with youth, wrongly,” Sir Ridley tells Press Association. “(There was) a lot of make-up in the mornings, big make-up, prosthetics (with Spacey).”
Plummer has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Getty, which was shot over 10 days at the end of November (17), as the director attempted to save his movie following the Spacey scandal.
Scott reveals he quickly came to the realization he would have to cut the disgraced actor out of All the Money in the World after Anthony Rapp revealed he was 14 when Spacey made a sexual advance on him in 1986.
Spacey quickly apologized for his “inappropriate drunken behavior” in a statement, during which he also came out as gay. Others have since accused the actor of sexual misconduct, and he is currently under investigation in the U.K. over two claims of sexual assault alleged to have taken place in 2005 and 2008.
“I knew enough about him over the years, gossip and things,” Sir Ridley explains. “It’s his business what he gets up to. It only becomes the business of other people if it involves kids and things like that, then it’s not on. You can always argue a guy can take care of himself but a kid can’t, that’s not right.”
But, despite the gossip surrounding Spacey, Scott still hired him to play Getty, adding, “I hadn’t even thought about it, frankly… I’d met him once… He’s a great actor. The question is: Should you separate the talent from the man? And I think you have to.”
