Kevin Spacey to play ‘detective investigating sexual abuse’ in first acting role since assault allegations
(Staff Photo By Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
Kevin Spacey will return to screens in his first role since being accused of sexual assault four years ago.
The disgraced House of Cards actor will appear in an Italian film titled L’uomo Che Disegno Dio or The Man Who Drew God.
According to IMDb, the film follows the “rise and fall” of an artist who is accused of sexual abuse. Variety reports that Spacey will play a police detective.
L’uomo Che Disegno Dio will be directed by Franco Nero, whose wife Vanessa Redgrave may also make a camo.
Nero told ABC News that he is “very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film”. He added: “I consider him a great actor, and I can’t wait to start the movie.”
The Italian film will be Kevin Spacey’s first acting role since he was accused of sexual assault and misconduct by multiple men.
In 2017, Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp claimed he was sexually assaulted by Spacey when he was 14 years old. Spacey insists he remembers no encounter with Rapp, and came out as gay while apologising for any “drunken behaviour”. He denies sexual assault.
Following Rapp’s allegations, at least 20 individuals involved in the Old Vic, where Spacey was the artistic director, accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour, in 2017.
An investigation found the majority of the alleged incidents took place before 2009, apart from two. The Old Vic said no “legal claims, formal grievances, formal disputes, settlement agreements or payments made or authorised were made at all in relation to Kevin Spacey during his tenure”.
In 2018, Spacey was charged with the alleged sexual assault of a then-teenager at a restaurant in Nantucket, Massachusetts in July 2016. He pleaded not guilty, and the charge was later dropped. The alleged victim also withdrew a civil lawsuit against Spacey in July 2019.
Another sexual assault case against Spacey was dismissed after the death of the anonymous accuser in 2019.
In 2021, a New York federal judge ruled another anonymous accuser must reveal his identity before his lawsuit against Kevin Spacey can go forward. The man claimed he met Spacey at an acting class when he was 12, and the actor was 22. He said the actor began abusing him when he was 14.
Spacey was let go from Netflix’s House of Cards in late 2017, and his last role was in Billionaire Boys Club, which was released in 2018 but filmed the year before.
