Kevin Spacey is being edited out of ‘All the Money in the World,’ directed by Ridley Scott

TNS

Kevin Spacey is being cut out of a movie just weeks before its release.

Deadline reports director Ridley Scott and the producers of “All the Money in the World” made the extraordinary decision to remove Spacey and replace him with veteran character actor Christopher Plummer (“The Sound of Music”).

Spacey’s fall from grace has been dramatic. Over the past two weeks as allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault have mounted, Spacey has been fired from “House of Cards,” denied an Emmy award, and dumped by his agent and publicist.

In “All in the Money in the World,” which tells the true story of the 1973 kidnapping of J. Paul Getty’s grandson, Spacey portrayed the famous billionaire. While the role is said to be small — he spent about 10 days on set — it was apparently significant enough for the studio to plan an Oscar campaign around him.

Those plans have since been dropped.

Replacing an actor mid-production is not that unusual. Michael J. Fox stepped in for a miscast Eric Stoltz weeks into the shoot on “Back to the Future.” Paul Walker died halfway through making “Furious 7” and was replaced by body doubles and digital effects.

Editing out an actor with such a key role under these circumstances, however, so close to the film’s premiere is unprecedented.

It’s not entirely clear how Scott (“Blade Runner”) will go about inserting Plummer into Spacey’s scenes in such a short amount of time, but some use of digital effects is good bet. Also, according to the Hollywood Reporter, many of Spacey’s scenes featured just him. Still, co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams will reportedly be involved in the reshoots.

Plummer reportedly was originally the filmmakers’ first choice for the role, but the studio wanted a bigger name and went with Spacey instead.