A real reckoning for rape culture in Hollywood

Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World

Yesterday there was a startling new development in the Kevin Spacey saga. The actor, whose career has gone into a tailspin amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment (largely with underage boys as the victims) was poised to be featured prominently in the Oscar-baity Ridley Scott film All the Money in the World, which was due out next month. But he's being cut out of the film entirely.

In fact, Spacey's performance (he's almost unrecognizable under heavy make-up) was on some short lists as a potential Best Supporting Actor nominee. Now, his entire role is going to be re-shot, with the legendary Christopher Plummer playing his part. Apparently, the entire cast -- which includes Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams -- have signed on to this change, and I imagine the film's producers have also determined that the added cost of re-shoots was worth it to avoid being associated with Spacey. Despite the fact that Spacey seems to have a major role (he is revealed in the trailer with much fanfare), Scott and company plan to re-shoot all his scenes in the next few weeks and still expect to hit their intended release date of December 22nd.

I could be wrong, but a move like this feels unprecedented, and at the same time, totally appropriate for 2017. It's also deeply ironic to me that this development is happening on the same weekend that Mel Gibson -- a person caught on tape abusing women and spouting racism, with a long history of anti-Semitism -- will be appearing in a family comedy opposite Will Ferrell.

The last few weeks have been strange ones for fans of Hollywood movies.

I have been a fan of and continue to be a fan of many movies produced by Harvey Weinstein. Just a few weeks ago I wrote a glowing piece about Dustin Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, only to have it revealed that he has been something of a sleaze for decades.

Several men whose talents I admire and plenty I don't, have been outed as abusers of women, ranging from really inappropriate to downright criminal. And it's led me to the conclusion that you simply can't have heroes anymore when it comes to Hollywood.

Perhaps this was always obvious -- but as an earnest movie fan I grew up romanticizing the images on screen and the movie star personas I admired, without presuming much about the stars' personal lives. At this point, I'll be relieved to know if any of my childhood icons have been on the right side of history -- but I fear that only more revelations will be forthcoming about people who are are near and dear to me.

That doesn't mean I am in anyway ambiguous about these revelations coming forward. As painful as the exposure of Bill Cosby was for lifelong fans like me -- it must have been insurmountable for his actual victims, both those that came forward and those who still remain private.

His crimes won't erase his cultural impact and significance -- just like the allegations against Spacey won't make his roles in films like Seven, LA Confidential and The Usual Suspects any less compelling. But they do provide a real wake-up call for men, and some women, who have convinced themselves that predators only lurk in the shadows. They are more often than not our friends and family. And yes, sometimes they are great artists who have moved us or made us laugh.

And then there is the Gibson issue. Or Casey Affleck, who just last year won a Best Actor award (for a terrific performance, but on the heels of unearthed sexual harassment allegations). These performers aren't being run out of the industry or cut out of movies, which suggests that we're all still grappling with this new terrain, and history will judge many more kindly than others.

And now the once seemingly woke Louis CK is in the hot seat. Here is an undeniably talented comedian, who had won acclaim for sending up male privilege and ignorance, only to be proven just as scummy as any catcalling construction worker. It's all so gross, very sad, but also totally par for the course in a society where so many men have been and are predatory monsters.

One thing is for sure, if there was still some glow and mystique around modern Hollywood, it's certainly been punctured for good in recent years. The past couple have really underlined their lack of diversity and misogyny and now their is a reckoning for its pervasive rape culture as well.

What makes it uncomfortable for so many of us -- who are liberals and movie lovers --is that we'd like to think 'these are the good guys' but we live an age where there are almost no 'good guys' anymore, and what can be defined as 'good' has rightfully been updated considerably over the years.

While I am not ready to disavow movies and shows I've enjoyed in the past -- I have definitely conditioned myself not to have high expectations for the people involved in them. And while I think I don't deserve any kind of pat on the back for that, I suppose it's a start of something new. Every man should be checking their privilege right now, and retroactively examining their actions in the past -- because the old standards of 'boys will be boys' just can't survive.

In the meantime, any actor who's been a creeper over the years should just out themselves at this point, because the truth may not set them free, but it'll free the rest of us.