It wasn’t so long ago that some of us at Fortune were waiting with bated breath over the forthcoming Ridley Scott film All the Money in the World, which depicts controversial industrialist—and popular Fortune magazine subject in his day—J. Paul Getty during a time when he negotiated the ransom for the kidnapping of his grandson.
Then allegations about actor Kevin Spacey’s sexual misconduct over years of work surfaced.
Scott, 79, made headlines of his own by deciding to reshoot the film with actor Christopher Plummer in the role of the oil tycoon—without changing the film’s December release date. The move spoke volumes, but until today, the legendary film director hadn’t actually explained himself.
Entertainment Weekly (which like Fortune is owned by Time Inc) got the scoop, publishing an extended interview in which Scott takes a stand against Spacey’s actions and offers some detail into what appears to be a frenetic race against the clock.
“I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that,” Scott told EW. “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.”
Scott acknowledged that the situation was admittedly awkward—”He didn’t call me,” he said of Spacey once the news broke—and that it “was about time” for Hollywood’s sexual predators to get their due. He also weighed in on the industrialist at the center of his film.
“Sometimes I think being really rich is as bad as being really poor. Because you are facing a void every morning. There’s nothing to do,” Scott told Sara Vilkomerson. “If you have wealth and no job, you sit there twiddling your thumbs and start drinking at lunchtime. At 4 p.m. you move on to something stronger, and before you know it you’re on to rock & roll. The greatest gift is being passionate about what you do.”
The film is still set to debut on Dec. 22.
