Kevin Spacey has been cast in his first film appearance after sexual assault charges against the Oscar winner first emerged in late 2017.
According to ABC News, the “American Beauty” actor would appear alongside Vanessa Redgrave in “L’uomo Che Disegno Dio,” directed by her husband Franco Nero. The title in English is “The One Who Drew God.”
“I’m very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film,” Nero told ABC News. “I consider him a great actor and I can’t wait to start the movie.” Nero is well known for his roles as an actor in films such as “Django Unchained,” “Die Hard 2,” and “John Wick: Chapter 2,” but he also directed the 2005 feature film “Forever Blues.”
According to reports, the film is about a blind artist who has a godlike capacity to create images of people focused solely on hearing their voices, catapulting him to popularity. It is unclear what part Spacey would perform in the film.
“The Man Who Drew God” would be Spacey’s first major film appearance in almost four years, following Anthony Rapp’s allegations that Spacey made an unwelcome sexual attempt on him while he was 14 years old.
More than a dozen other potential survivors came forward after that, including filmmaker Tony Montana and Richard Dreyfuss’ son Harry.
During his tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic, Spacey was convicted of sexual behavior toward young men. Spacey’s position as President Frank Underwood in Netflix’s “House of Cards” was jeopardized as a result of the accusations. Several individuals who served on the show were among Spacey’s accusers.
Spacey was charged with sexual harassment in 2018 in connection with a reported 2016 altercation with a teenager on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.
He entered a not guilty plea and the allegations were eventually dismissed. The District Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles refused to press proceedings against Spacey over two other suspected cases.
Kevin Spacey was most recently seen in the 2018 film “Billionaire Boys Club” and in Edgar Wright’s 2017 film “Baby Driver.”
He’s been attempting a revival via YouTube videos in which he channels the character of Frank Underwood ever since. In 2019, he appeared in Rome under peculiar circumstances to read a poem about a defeated warrior bemoaning his fate.
Along with earning the Academy Award for Best Actor for “American Beauty” in 2000, he also won the award for Best Supporting Actor in 1996 for his performance in beleaguered director Bryan Singer’s “The Usual Suspects.”
One of the other individuals who sued Spacy as a “John Doe,” filed claims in September 2018 alleging that he was forced to grab the actor’s intimate parts twice during a massage two years earlier at a private residence in Malibu.
Despite Spacey’s objection that the plaintiff’s name was being concealed, a federal judge in California permitted the case to proceed eight months later.
About a month after the parties agreed to a strategy for the case that included prospective discovery and a seven- to eleven-day appeal, the plaintiff’s counsel told Spacey that his client had “recently passed.”
No more details were given, and an appeal for further information to the plaintiff’s counsel was not returned.
The “John Doe” case was the most serious court circumstance for Spacey, who was convicted of sexually inappropriate behavior towards several people.
As outlined in a report submitted in August 2019, the plaintiff’s lawyers served to the court two other suspected Spacey masseur plaintiffs who expressed “concern about their welfare and/or do not want their identities published openly in the newspapers” in this case.
Many people have expressed their support for the actor, commending him for trying to get his career back, while others condemn him for all the allegations against him.