28 December 2017
Newsdesk
Actress Michelle Williams is confident the sexual misconduct scandals rocking Hollywood have already inspired a change in onset behaviours, insisting "everyone's more professional".
The Brokeback Mountain star's new movie, All the Money in the World, was directly affected by the recent allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against her castmate Kevin Spacey, prompting filmmaker Ridley Scott to cut the actor from his completed Getty family drama and recast the role.
Christopher Plummer, who had originally auditioned to play billionaire J. Paul Getty, was hastily brought onboard as Spacey's replacement, and they raced to reshoot scenes in November (17) to keep the movie's December release schedule.
Michelle previously revealed she "immediately started to feel better" about All the Money in the World once Ridley shared his re-editing plans, and she insists she was more than happy to do what she could to help salvage the project.
"It's kind of beautiful," she tells People magazine about the rushed reshoots. "It can be done, rewriting the ending to something. We had the resources to do it and not everyone is lucky enough to be able to rewrite endings. I know that meant a lot to me personally to go from this sort of sad story of what happens in the fallout of this kind of behaviour, and how many other lives are affected, no lives more than the people that Kevin hurt. It was disheartening. It felt so defeatist. And so I've enjoyed being part of this story. It makes other things seem possible."
Spacey, who was initially accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in the mid-1980s, was exposed for his past behaviour shortly after movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was slapped with multiple claims of sexual misconduct and even rape in exposes in The New York Times and the New Yorker in October (17).
Moviemaker Brett Ratner and rap mogul Russell Simmons are among the big names to have since also faced similar scandals, and Michelle believes those in the entertainment industry are already witnessing a positive change as a result of the controversies.
"It's been such an interesting time in the last few months," she continues. "It's been on one hand, brutalising and traumatising, and on the other hand, I feel like it's given me this like swoop of energy I'm not really accustomed to, it's amazing. I feel alternate endings are possible all over the spectrum at this point in time. I feel like everything's up for grabs."
"I feel like there's a chance for change and that's exciting I'm going to be a part of it," she adds. "I felt a difference even on the set I am working on now. It's different. Everyone's more professional. It's pretty cool."
Michelle doesn't name the film she is presently shooting, but she stars in Spider-Man spin-off Venom, which is currently in production.