After allegations of sexual assault were made against Kevin Spacey, director Ridley Scott made the right (and expensive) choice to recast Spacey’s role in his film All The Money In The World, despite it already being complete. Scott brought veteran actor Christopher Plummer and the rest of the necessary cast to reshoot Spacey’s scenes, which they managed to pull off in just nine days.
However, the news that Mark Wahlberg, in a supporting part, was paid $1.5 million for the reshoots while Michelle Williams, the film’s lead and the one garnering major nominations, was paid less than $1,000 in the form of a per diem threw an unfortunate cloud over the film. People were justifiably outraged, and many questioned how WME, the agency that represents both Wahlberg and Williams, dropped the ball so badly.
Well, it gets worse. In a new report from USA Today, Wahlberg refused to approve Plummer — a clause in his contract gave Wahlberg power to veto casting of his co-stars — as Spacey’s replacement without the additional pay. According to a source, “What he said was, ‘I will not approve Christopher Plummer unless you pay me.’ And that’s how he [expletive] them.” Another “Hollywood Insider” said that “Wahlberg’s lawyer formally vetoed Plummer in a letter to financiers unless his demand for more payment was met.”
Both Wahlberg and Williams had reshoots included in their contracts and were in Europe filming for the same number of days. Williams had a very different reaction when asked to do reshoots in order to remove an accused pedophile and sexual assaulter from their film, saying:
“I said I’d be wherever they needed me, whenever they needed me. And they could have my salary, they could have my holiday, whatever they wanted. Because I appreciated so much that they were making this massive effort.”
(Via USA Today)
