ALL IMAGES IN THIS ARTICLE CREDITED TO: TRISTAR PICTURES/MOVIE LENS
AUTHOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this article stated that Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams reshot certain scenes for free. This claim was based on director Ridley Scott’s December 2017 statement to The Washington Post that “Everyone did it for nothing. They all came in for free”. Recent news stories suggest this was not the case however and the following article has been amended to remove that information which is now, at best, contested.
There’s apparently a single shot, appearing roughly in the first ten minutes or so of All the Money in the World, that features Kevin Spacey. The actor, who spectacularly fell from grace late last year after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, was originally cast as curmudgeonly oil tycoon John Paul Getty in director Ridley Scott’s new kidnapping thriller but has since been famously erased from the final film and replaced with Christopher Plummer. All except one incredibly brief shot in an early flashback scene which depicts Getty exiting a train on a visit to an oil field in the desert. It’s the one location the character appears in that Scott couldn’t reasonably return to shoot in and as a result Plummer is inserted into originally filmed footage with some semi-obvious green screen work. One wide shot couldn’t be feasibly altered in this way due to its composition however, and so that tiny moment of ultimately useless film trivia is now the only reminder that once, Kevin was here.
The saga of Kevin Spacey’s removal from the film has captivated the entertainment industry for the better part of two months now. Before we go any further, it’s worth unpacking just why this is so extraordinary. When the allegations against Spacey first surfaced on October 29, 2017, All the Money in the World was already finished. It had been shot, cut, scored and was preparing to be premiered at the AFI Fest on November 16, to be followed by a theatrical release on December 22. A trailer had already been released featuring Spacey in the role, now a curious historical artefact in itself. So when, on November 8, Ridley Scott announced that he would be reshooting Spacey’s part to replace him with Plummer (his first choice before the studio demanded a bigger name) before the month was out and that the movie would still meet its planned release date, it seemed an almost impossible idea. From November 20 through to November 29, the cast and crew of All the Money in the World returned and refilmed what, by my estimation, probably amounts to 30-35% of the movie over the course of nine days. Stars Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams returned to reshoot their scenes with the character and while the movie was eventually delayed it was only by three days: the film ultimately released on December 25. It’s a monumental achievement, one never before attempted let alone accomplished and Spacey’s removable is, with the exception of the aforementioned desert scene, barely noticeable. Not only is Plummer’s recruitment a technical marvel, it’s also an artistic one: he’s the best thing in the whole film.
All the Money in the World tells the true story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer), the grandson of Christopher Plummer’s (no relation) oil tycoon, who was abducted and held for a ransom of 17 million dollars in 1973. While the elder Getty was at that time the “richest man in the history of the world”, he refused to pay the ransom (a pittance given his absurdly high bank balance), instead preferring to purchase priceless artworks and begin construction on a new, obscenely expensive mansion to accompany the ones he already had. His former daughter in law, the boy’s mother Gail Harris (a mesmerising Michelle Williams), was left to try and negotiate her son’s release by herself with the assistance of a former CIA agent (an above-average Mark Wahlberg) hired by the miserly tycoon to retrieve the boy at the lowest possible financial cost.
While the behind the scenes story of All the Money in the World has overshadowed the on-screen one in the popular press, Ridley Scott’s slick two hour thriller (based on the 1995 nonfiction book Painfully Rich by author John Pearson) is a captivating film that more than justifies the struggles overcome to bring it to cinema screens. The script, by David Scarpa, paints a vivid portrait of a horrible episode in the lives its characters, drawing drama and emotion from the scenes in a way that always feels genuine and never exploitative. There’s a methodical nature to the films approach as it carefully recounts the ins and outs of the abducted boy’s captivity (which lasted for months), documenting the unexpected twists and occasionally grisly turns of the ordeal as it steadily moves through it’s always captivating 133 minute runtime, but the performances are what make All the Money in the World truly great.
While Mark Wahlberg, an actor I usually find wooden at best, aquits himself uncharacteristically well in a commendable supporting turn, it’s the spectacular contributions of Michelle Williams and Christopher Plummer that make the film soar. Williams is a brilliant actress and she really shines here, presenting a harrowing performance depicting a mother desperate to retrieve her missing child, at the whim of a cruel former father-in-law she clearly despises. Plummer on the other hand, takes what could have been just another evil rich guy and transforms the role into one of depth and even occasional warmth. The character of John Paul Getty is a thoroughly unlikeable one and while Plummer doesn’t try to soften those edges, he does avoid making them the role’s sole attributes. There’s a sense throughout the film that the only one Getty is convincing with his increasingly weak justifications for why he can’t pay the ransom is himself, a suggestion of willing self-delusion conjured almost entirely by Plummer’s powerhouse performance. It’d be an incredible turn under normal circumstances but when one considers the nature of his eleventh hour casting and the fact that he had less than two weeks to prepare for the role, it becomes truly astonishing.
While All the Money in the World will probably be remembered primarily for the daring but ultimately successful Hail Mary that prevented it from ending up as a wretched foot-note in the story of Kevin Spacey’s career-death, it is also a truly compelling movie sporting a sharp script and a cast and crew more than capable of overcoming the troubles they inherited from their former colleague. Christopher Plummer’s performance is likely to become legendary given it’s origin story but the eighty-eight year old’s spectacular turn is fantastic even when divorced from the behind the scenes drama that prompted it. Ridley Scott and his team pulled off what many considered impossible over the last few months and the final film is both a testament to the talent of all involved and their admirable refusal to allow their work to be consumed by scandal.
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