Will Arnett has replaced Armie Hammer in Taika Waititi‘s in-development sports drama Next Goal Wins. Hammer’s exit from the film comes in the wake of accusations by multiple women of sexual assault, with the Los Angeles Police Department launching an investigation.
This is the latest project Hammer has been removed from due to the scandal, with others including romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding with Jennifer Lopez, the new Paramount Plus show about the making of The Godfather, and the upcoming Broadway production of The Minutes.
Next Goal Wins is based on the 2015 documentary of the same name which follows the true story of Dutch coach Thomas Rongen, who attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team – known as one of the weakest international teams – from perennial losers into winners. Waititi has also penned the script alongside Iain Morris.
Michael Fassbender is starring in the film as Rongen, with Arnett playing an executive at the Football Federation American Samoa. Hammer had actually already filmed those scenes himself, but Arnett has reshot them.
We saw something similar in Ridley Scott‘s All The Money In The World a few years ago, with Christopher Plummer reshooting Kevin Spacey‘s scenes in the wake of his scandal.
Alongside Fassbender and now Arnett, the rest of the cast includes Elisabeth Moss, Oscar Kightley, David Fane, Beulah Koale, Lehi Falepapalangi, Semu Filipo, Uli Latukefu and Angus Sampson. Searchlight Pictures will distribute the film, which doesn’t yet have a release date.
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