Today is January 8 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “Do you sit there and let something kill you or do you take action?”
When a serious distraction enters the picture, do you sit there and let it kill you or do you take action and find a way to move forward?
How often in your life have you let something kill your plans, stop you from moving forward, or get in your way?
People who navigate the chaos like 80-year-old English film director and producer Ridley Scott figure out a way to take action and finish what they started. When Scott decided to re-film 22 scenes in his movie All the Money in the World, he had only nine days.
Scott made the decision following the news regarding disgraced Kevin Spacey who starred in the movie. Christopher Plummer agreed to take Spacey’s role while lead cast members Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg agreed to work through Thanksgiving to re-film scenes with Mr. Plummer.
As Scott said “You can sit there and let something kill you, or you can take action. I took action.”
As USA Today reported “Ridley Scott’s Getty kidnapping drama was hastily reshot the week of Thanksgiving after a cascade of sexual misconduct allegations were made public against Kevin Spacey, who had starred in the drama as billionaire J. Paul Getty. Scott transfixed the film world by quickly assembling his actors in Europe, reshooting Spacey’s scenes with Christopher Plummer — and still making his Christmas release window.”
The rush was mandatory since a trailer with Spacey in it was already on heavy rotation in theaters.
According to The New York Times “For nine days, Mr. Scott arrived at filming locations by 6:30 a.m. to eat breakfast and finalize planned shooting angles with his longtime cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski. Filming usually continued straight through lunch. As sequences were shot — Mr. Scott typically does very few takes — footage was digitally shipped to the film’s editor, Claire Simpson, who would start stitching it together. In the evening, Mr. Scott would make adjustments.”
In a December 2017 interview, Scott commented on his ability to create films in an abbreviated time frame compared to other directors. “You plan, you know exactly what it will look like, and I think it helps me enormously that I still do something as basic as storyboard my own stuff. It forces me, on paper, to make decisions. I’ll get a great frame, snap my fingers, and move on to the next one. You’re filming on paper before you even begin, so when I walk on set, I know exactly what I’m going to do. That gives me a confidence with the actors, and the actors smell it.”
As you go about navigating the chaos today ask yourself if you will sit there and let something kill you or will you take action?