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(DElia continues to deny the allegations.)
It wasnt the first time an actor had been replaced in postproduction after being accused of sexual misconduct.
In 2017, Ridley Scott spent nine days reshootingKevin Spaceys scenes inAll the Money in the Worldwith Christopher Plummer.
Notaro and Snyder look back on the convoluted filming process with a mixture of awe and relief.
.Step 1: Get Tig
.
[Then] Im like, Do you think she would do this, though?
I was so baffled, Notaro says of learning Snyder wanted her for the part.
I felt like there was some sort of misunderstanding.
As an actor, Notaro had almost always played a variation on herself.
It was reassuring, but Notaro had seen DElias footage, too.
It didnt seem possible for me to take on what Chris did.
Were such different actors and comedians, she says.
I honestly thought, regardless of whats going on in his personal life, that his performance was excellent.
But Zack said, We want you to do exactly what you do.
And, in turn, thats all I did.
.Step 2: Re-create the action.
Notaro prepped for her role as Peters by studying the script and learning how to handle a prop weapon.
That lasted probably 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, the movie had to delete DElia to make room for Notaro.
I had to do this incredibly technical experiment, re-creating every scene, shot for shot, Snyder says.
The original footage had been shot in Albuquerque and Atlantic City in 2019.
And there could be no ad-libbing: Notaros dialogue had to sync with the other characters reactions.
Youre walking into a building, Notaro recalls.
Id be like, Is it kind of a mosey?
Okay, Ill mosey.
Then Zack might say, Thats a little too fast with the moseying, and wed start over again.
Thats where Im like, I am not a trained actor, she says.
Youre sitting there with all these adults standing ten feet away while youre alone, acting like youre crashing.
I thought,Oh my God, I feel like an idiot.
Can we be done with this?
.Step 3: Swap her in.
It was a few months to get all the individual effects and make it seamless.
As Notaro jokes, filming this way went to her head.
Snyder rewarded her efforts with a fake Oscar statuette for Best Out-of-Focus Actor.
My phone started blowing up: Youre trending on Twitter!
Everybodys talking about how youre sexy AF, she says.
I was so confused.
I really thought there was going to be a backlash from me replacing Chris.
I didnt think I was going to be trending for being a badass.
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