I have been a huge fan of actor Kevin Spacey since the 1987 television series Wiseguy, where he played “Mel Profitt.” This was a time when detailed storytelling and complex characters were prized in episodic television, so Spacey’s turn in the role put him on the map, and his star kept rising: The Usual Suspects, L.A. Confidential, and American Beauty, are some of the high-water marks in his film career, and he was huge in theater as well. Then came House of Cards, the Netflix political drama that cemented Spacey as not just the Laurence Olivier of our time, but a pop culture icon. Then came 2017, when Spacey was swept up in #MeToo allegations. Actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of sexually assaulting him when Rapp was an underaged 14-year old actor. This was followed by a series of criminal and civil lawsuits in America and the UK, brought by other alleged sexual assault victims, that ultimately cost Spacey his Netflix series, and caused Hollywood to cancel his career. The 2017 Ridley Scott movie, All The Money In The World, in which Spacey had a principal role portraying billionaire oilman and philanthropist J. Paul Getty, had wrapped production when all this mess broke open. Ridley Scott chose to erase Spacey from the film, clearly stating it was kill or be killed.
[I]n a new profile in The New York Times, Scott confidently explains that it was an easy decision to make. ""You can sit there and let something kill you, or you can take action," the filmmaker says. "I took action."
Scott quickly hired actor Christopher Plummer to reshoot all of Spacey’s scenes. Spacey had become the Hollywood equivalent of nuclear waste.
At the time, I didn’t know what to think. In my years-long close contact with Hollywood, from its glitzy veneer to its grungy underbelly, I learned early on that things are never what they seem. On the one hand, this type of behavior exists in spades, and gets ignored (see: Weinstein, Harvey; Singer, Bryan); on the other hand, it’s almost as if the sudden and rapid-fire spate of charges against Spacey was too convenient: like they handed him over as a sacrificial lamb. This also exists, and not just in Hollywood: to protect a bigger fish, you throw another substantial fish to the sharks. The bigger fish gets away, and all that’s left are vultures weeding through the carnage. The fact that Spacey has been found not liable and not guilty in every piece of litigation that has been brought against him (in both the U.S. and the UK) is a good indicator that somehow, for some reason, he drew someone’s short straw, and was chosen to be thrown overboard.
Time, and the closing of much of the litigation and suits has given Spacey a chance to tell the truth about what really happened. To his credit, Spacey has spent the time away from the camera and stage getting in touch with himself. After seven years, he is trying to make a career comeback, and has been doing some long-form interviews with name British journalists; which says a lot about how credible he must consider American journalists to be.
In early May, Spacey sat down for his first long-form interview with Dan Wootten, a gay journalist who was part of the brigade who thought Spacey was guilty on everything of which he was accused, and that he deserved to be canceled. Wootten acknowledges this, and spoke about why he had a change of heart. He now wanted to give Spacey the “Right of Reply” and give his side of the story.
Wootten went into detail with Spacey about the Rapp allegations, which turned out to be wholly manufactured. Spacey’s legal team eviscerated Rapp in court, and Rapp ended up having to pay Spacey $40,000 dollars. Spacey has also been confronted with a new documentary which was aired over two nights in late May, on BBC’s Channel 4. The documentary alleges through testimonials and anecdotes by his brother (from whom he is estranged) that Spacey is a predatory sexual offender and has been for a long time. Wootten goes through the stories of all 10 accusers in the documentary, allowing Spacey to rebut each one. This is a bit pedantic (and a bit risqué at some points), but you get to hear more information about the personal work Spacey has done on himself and how the emotions and circumstances surrounding his current life are quite fresh and hovering just above the surface. One statement Spacey made in the midst was quite telling and heartbreaking:
“I didn’t want to be me. Being blocked from working has forced me to play the one role that I’ve been avoiding my whole life: Myself.”
Spacey makes it clear that he would love to put all this behind him and never talk about it again, but at every turn, when he makes efforts to move back into his career, the manufactured allegations that have been proven in court to be unfounded, and now this Channel 4 documentary, rise to the surface. It hearkens back to my earlier assessment that someone up the Hollywood food chain seems to want Spacey to remain canceled and to hold his supposed sins over his head like a Sword of Damocles.
On Tuesday, Spacey did a second, lengthy interview with journalist and television personality/pundit Piers Morgan. This interview is much more raw, emotional, and focused directly on Spacey’s journey of coming to terms with his sexual orientation, rebuilding his relationships and forging new ones, and the people who stood by him during this seven-years horror, and those who threw him under the bus. To Morgan’s credit, he’s a much better interviewer than Wootten, but Morgan also allowed Spacey to bare his soul in a way that the rapid-fire, seeking answers-style of Wootten just would not allow.
If you choose to watch only one, I would recommend the Piers Morgan Uncensored interview. Both full-length interviews are embedded in this post.
Spacey seems to honestly be trying to come to terms with himself and past harms he has done to himself and others that he goes into greater detail in the Morgan Uncensored interview. And Spacey is still one of the premier actors of our time who, from the through line in both interviews, really just wants to get back to his creative call. I hope he can overcome and partner with someone in the film industry who will offer him that breakthrough role. It may not necessarily get him back into the spotlight, but it will get him back to the work that he loves. Why does anyone want to begrudge him that?