As far as comebacks go, this one is sure to raise some eyebrows. Actor Kevin Spacey, who has been embroiled in multiple sexual assault allegations, will have a small role in an Italian film, Variety has confirmed.
The indie movie ‘L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio’, directed by and starring Franco Nero, will feature 61-year-old Spacey as a police detective.
“I’m very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film,” Nero said to ABC News, according to Variety. “I consider him a great actor and I can’t wait to start the movie.” ABC News stated that the movie will also star Vanessa Redgrave, Nero’s wife.
This is the first movie Spacey will star in after being hit with allegations of assault and misconduct starting in 2017.
Actor Anthony Rapp, known for his roles in ‘Rent’ and ‘Dazed and Confused’, was the first to open up about to BuzzFeed about Spacey allegedly assaulting him when he was 14 and Spacey was 26. This led to an avalanche of other men coming forward to make similar claims about the ‘American Beauty’ actor.
In September 2020, Rapp and another man filed a lawsuit against Spacey.
Other claims included those from around 20 men who accused Spacey of sexual misconduct while he was the artistic director at the Old Vic, and a claim by former news anchor Heather Unruh who said the actor abused her then 18-year-old son at a bar in 2016.
Amid all the claims, Spacey was dropped from his hit Netflix show ‘House of Cards’ in November 2017, while his last movie appearance was in 2018’s ‘Billionaire Boys Club’.
Despite being off the screen, Spacey has popped up in the news not just for legal proceedings — a few of which have turned out in his favour — but for his bizarre holiday videos released online every Christmas since 2018. In the one posted in 2020, the actor spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on people, and promoted suicide and substance abuse hotlines.
