A jury that will decide the innocence or guilt of actor Kevin Spacey was sworn in Wednesday in London, kicking off the trial of the actor accused of sexually assaulting four men more than 20 years ago.
Kevin Spacey, the Fall of a Star
After participating in two iconic films in the 1990s: Common Suspects (for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) and Seven, Kevin Spacey became an actor of reference in Hollywood and, consequently, internationally. His star seemed to be on the rise, and with films such as LA Confidential, American Beauty (for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role), and Chain of Favors, no one doubted that he was one of the most successful careers of the end of the century and the beginning of this one.
Spacey would also triumph on television screens with the successful House of Cards and extend his career to the theatrical stage. In 2003, Spacey was appointed artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre and later starred in the company’s productions of The Philadelphia Story (2005), A Moon for the Misbegotten (2006), Inherit the Wind (2009), and Shakespeare’s Richard III (2011). Nothing seemed to cloud his horizon. And yet…
The First Accusations of Harassment
Unlike many actors who like to expose their private lives to the public, Spacey was stubborn about keeping his privacy away from the press and cameras. But in 2017, actor Antony Rapp revealed that, during a party at Spacey’s apartment in 1986, Kevin drunkenly led him to a bed and climbed on top of him. Both were performing in Broadway shows at the time, although Spacey was 26 and Rapp was only 14.
Via Twitter, Spacey stated that he did not remember the incident, but was “beyond appalled” by his actions. He also took advantage of the same platform to offer an apology for his actions. Perhaps seeking to completely settle the episode and trying to turn it around, Spacey expressed that, motivated by the complaint, he felt compelled to confess that in the past he had had several romantic and sexual encounters with different men.
He finished with the following statement: “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and now I choose to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly, and that starts with examining my own behavior.”
The Beginning of the End
If Spacey had tried to do damage control with his statements, they did little good. Netflix announced that it had fired him from the last season of House of Cards and, a little later, his publicist Staci Wolfe and Creative Artists Agency ended their professional relationship with Spacey. To top it off, a production assistant of the series declared that he had been sexually assaulted by the actor. To this statement would be added those of several members of the set who described the actor’s behavior with very strong words.
The career that had taken him years to build seemed to crumble within months. The complaints against the actor multiplied, and the consequences were not long in coming. Director Ridley Scott removed all the scenes from his film All the Money in the World and replaced them with new ones starring Christopher Plummer.
A Legal Avalanche
The London Metropolitan Police Service began investigating two allegations of sexual assault and one allegation of assault against Spacey. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was opening a folder to investigate a sexual assault complaint involving the actor.
The number of allegations against him in the UK alone rose to 6. Finally, in 2019, Spacey was charged with felony indecent assault and battery in Nantucket, Massachusetts, after allegedly groping a teenager in a restaurant. The charge was dismissed in July.
Kevin Spacey tried to rebuild his career, and 2018 saw the digital release of Billionaire Boys Club, which had a very poor box office, grossing only $126 on the day of its release. The public, without waiting for the verdict of the courts, had given theirs.
Back to the Courts
The two-time Oscar winner arrived in a cab to court and pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges ranging from sexual assault, and indecent assault to causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without their consent.
Pending exoneration, Spacey told the German magazine Zeit (via) that “There are people now who are ready to hire me the moment I am acquitted of these charges in London.” The end of what looks like a movie is coming soon.
This story was written in Spanish by Verónica Sánchez in Cultura Colectiva
