By Jake Cole, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Sony Pictures has pulled the film "All the Money in the World" from its AFI Fest premiere following the sexual misconduct allegations made against co-star Kevin Spacey.
In a statement Monday, Sony's TriStar Pictures said it was withdrawing the film from the Los Angeles festival because "it would be inappropriate to celebrate a gala at this difficult time." It had been slated to be the festival's closing night film on November 16.
Directed by Ridley Scott, "All the Money in the World" is one of the fall movie season's more anticipated releases, with many expecting it to be a potential Oscar contender. In it, Spacey plays oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. When his 16-year-old grandson is kidnapped, Getty refuses to pay the ransom. The boy's mother (Michelle Williams) and Getty's adviser (Mark Wahlberg) work to recapture him.
TriStar said the film's December 22 release date remains unchanged, a decision that for now preserves the awards-season position of "All the Money in the World."
"A film is not the work of one person. There are over 800 other actors, writers, artists, craftspeople and crew who worked tirelessly and ethically on this film, some for years, including one of cinema's master directors," said TriStar. "It would be a gross injustice to punish all of them for the wrongdoings of one supporting actor in the film."
The AFI Fest said it supported Sony's decision to postpone the film's premiere "in order to ensure the thousands of people who worked together on this film are honored at a proper time and in a proper light." The festival made no announcement of a replacement film.
Netflix on Friday cut ties with Spacey, the star of its hit drama series "House of Cards." Production on its sixth season has been suspended indefinitely. The company also scuttled its Gore Vidal biopic, with Spacey starring as the author, even though it had just finished shooting.
"Star Trek" actor Anthony Rapp last week claimed that Spacey made sexual advances against him in 1986, when he was 14. In the days since, numerous others have also come forward to make various allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Spacey. London police are reportedly investigating Spacey for a 2008 sexual assault.
Spacey has not responded to the mounting allegations but apologized to Rapp for what he called "deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More