You know, they say life never imitates art in a good way (at least, I do) and once again, this has been proven true.
While speaking at a film festival in Spain, Dame Judi Dench (whose character M once called James Bond a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War”) actually defended Kevin Spacey and seriously argued that he should not’ve been cut from 2017’s All the Money in the World after several allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior surfaced against the actor.
Here’s what Dench had to say:
“I can’t approve, in any way, of the fact – whatever he has done – that you then start to cut him out of films. Are we to go back throughout history now and anyone who has misbehaved in any way, or has broken the law, or has committed some kind of offense, are they always going to be cut out?”
Now, to be fair to the actress, historical revisionism in certain contexts is concerning (think of what George Lucas did with the original films in his initial Star Wars trilogy), but ultimately, it’s the creator’s call to make or that of the community which houses a piece of art or creation. If a movie’s due to be released and an actor needs to be replaced, a director should be allowed to swap them out. It’s their right.
On a related note – and this gets into Confederate statues territory here, so crazy people, start typing your angry letters now – it’s fine to get rid of a performance from a firmly established historical work if people want it gone. As long as another copy exists somewhere or we have a detailed record of someone initially being in a piece, why can’t we cut out the bad apples?
Ultimately, at the end of the day, the debate comes down to this. If someone behaves poorly, they should be removed from creative projects they’ve had a role in. Art’s not a firm and final thing, it can be tinkered with and updated at any time if a creator wants to and erased if a community wants it gone. As long as you keep some record of it somewhere for future generations, then go nuts and update films and remove monuments as you please. It’s really not a big deal.
What do you think, though? Is Judi Dench right to defend Kevin Spacey, or were you happy to see him removed from All the Money in the World? Take to the comments section and let us know.