Two Hollywood heavyweight stars are calling on actor Kevin Spacey to continue his career seven years after he was first effectively blacklisted from the film industry amid allegations he was inappropriate with teen boys and young men throughout his career.
The 64-year-old Spacey has not been convicted of a crime following dozens of accusations — some dating back decades — that he was everything from unprofessional to predatory during those interactions.
In trials in both the United States and the United Kingdom, the “American Beauty” star was found either not guilty or not liable for sexual misconduct or assault.
Amid a fresh round of allegations from victims in the documentary “Spacey Unmasked,” the actor has gone on the offensive — and he has two Hollywood stars in his corner.
#SpaceyUnmasked will explore never-before-heard experiences and emotional testimony around allegations against the Oscar-winning actor for over three decades, tracing back to 1981.
Join us tonight for a special premiere of Spacey Unmasked tonight 9/8c on ID and on Max.… pic.twitter.com/oNhahYj1j7
— Investigation Discovery (@DiscoveryID) May 13, 2024
During separate conversations with the U.K.’s Telegraph over the weekend, Sharon Stone and Liam Neeson vouched for Spacey’s character.
“I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work,” Stone said. “He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.”
She said Spacey is the kind of performer other actors enjoy working with.
Should Kevin Spacey be given the opportunity to revive his Hollywood career?
“It’s terrible that they are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him and negotiating with themselves because they didn’t get their secret agendas,” the “Casino” actress said.
Neeson made similar comments while calling on Hollywood to allow Spacey back into the spotlight.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him,” the “Taken” star told The Telegraph. “Kevin is a good man and a man of character.”
“He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of [humor]. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly,” Neeson added.
In an interview with The Telegraph’s Allison Pearson, Spacey blamed his struggles to find work in recent years on what he categorized as an overzealous #MeToo movement.
The actor called himself a victim of a “rush to judgment” during a time when men and women who said they had been sexually harassed or assaulted needed to be heard.
Spacey was notably cut from the final season of the Netflix drama “House of Cards” in 2017 after actor Anthony Rapp alleged the much older star made a sexual advance on him at a party in the 1980s, the BBC reported.
Rapp said he was 14 and Spacey was 26 when the latter laid on top of him and tried “to seduce him.” A civil jury in Manhattan sided with Spacey in 2022 after Rapp sued.
Spacey came out as gay when the allegation surfaced, but some in the LGBT community said the actor’s revelation attempted to connect homosexuality to predatory behavior, ABC News noted.
While he has not been found criminally or civilly liable for any of the accusations against him, Spacey stopped getting offered prominent roles seven years ago.
His last big-budget casting was in 2017’s “Baby Driver.”
Spacey had completed shooting scenes as oil magnate J. Paul Getty in director Ridley Scott’s 2017 crime drama “All the Money in the World.”
After Rapp’s accusations went public, Spacey was cut from the film, and all scenes involving the character were shot again with actor Christopher Plummer playing the role of the Getty family patriarch, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
As part of his media blitz to get back to acting, Spacey spoke to NewsNation host Chris Cuomo in an interview that aired on the network Friday evening.
He told Cuomo that he had learned from his behavior — which he said was not criminal — and that he wished to resume his career.
“I’m trying to show that I’ve listened. I’ve learned. I’ve got the memo,” Spacey said. “I feel very strongly that whatever mistakes I’ve made in my life, that I paid a price.”
The actor said he would never again behave in a way that could be interpreted as “questionable.”
In an interview this month with British reporter Dan Wootton, Spacey characterized some of his previous behavior as “clumsy.”
“That may not have been the best decision, and it’s not one that I would do today,” he said, according to Deadline. “But it happened. It wasn’t illegal, and nor has it ever been alleged to have been illegal.”
