FIRST, THE MOVIES NOW, THE WORLD
A VENERATED AND HUGELY BANKABLE ACTOR’S swift stigmatization following a sex scandal. An eleventh-hour casting change and directorial reworking that could earn an actor an Oscar. A fat, glaring case of workplace sexism, capped by a striking act of decency. These are the types of things that are supposed to happen in the movies, not around them.
But this is the new Hollywood. All bets are off. And so this past fall’s All the Money in the World, now an Oscar contender, underwent a near total overhaul in just a few weeks before its scheduled release in late December. The film first hit turbulence after numerous men accused star Kevin Spacey of sexual assault or harassment. All scenes featuring Spacey were then reshot with the actor Christopher Plummer—an unprecedented move that increased the film’s budget by an estimated $10 million. Then, after the film’s release, it was revealed that actor Mark Wahlberg had earned $1.5 million to reshoot his scenes, while his co-lead Michelle Williams had been paid less than $1,000. Following a public uproar, Wahlberg donated his $1.5 million to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, a recently established initiative to provide legal support to those who have been sexually harassed, assaulted or abused in the
