The mounting allegations of sexual assault involving Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey are taking a mounting toll on his career.
Sony Pictures says it will remove Spacey from its upcoming feature film, All the Money in the World, and replace him with another veteran Oscar winner, Christopher Plummer. Director Ridley Scott is rushing to reshoot the new scenes with Plummer in order to make the film’s scheduled release date of Dec. 22.
Spacey played the late oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in the film, which dramatizes the 1973 kidnapping of his grandson, John Paul Getty III, and the elder Getty’s refusal to pay a ransom for his release.
Sony had announced it was pulling All the Money in the World from the upcoming American Film Institute film festival in Los Angeles.
Spacey has suffered a rapid fall from grace since actor Anthony Rapp, who starred in the 2005 musical Rent, accused Spacey of making sexual advances toward him in 1986 when Rapp was 14. Spacey announced he was gay in a statement apologizing to Rapp, while claiming he did not remember the alleged incident.
The actor has since been accused by more than dozen men of either sexually harassing or assaulting them. The allegations have led to his firing from the hit television series House of Cards by the streaming service Netflix, which has also refused to release a film in which Spacey stars as the late American writer and critic Gore Vidal.
The latest accusation against Spacey came Wednesday, when a former television news anchor accused him of sexually molesting her son last year when he was 18.
Heather Unruh told reporters Wednesday the alleged incident occurred in a restaurant on Nantucket island, a popular Massachusetts tourist spot.
She says a criminal investigation is under way. But Nantucket police will not confirm or deny an investigation, saying Massachusetts law bars them from discussing sexual assault allegations.
British news reports say London police are also looking into an alleged sexual assault there in 2008.
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