2023-07-14 18:49:25
In a wood-paneled room with no windows, Kevin Spacey prepares to salvage what remains of the remnants of one of the most successful Hollywood careers of decades. With an upright stature and resolute steps, the 63-year-old will take the witness stand in London’s Southwark Crown Court this Thursday.
It’s the third week of the American actor’s trial. The hall is full, almost all the seats in the visitors’ gallery are occupied. A special trial day is coming up. The defendant’s defense begins with their argument. Spacey will comment on the allegations that have been made against him in the court case, which is scheduled to last around five weeks. The two-time Oscar-winning actor (“American Beauty,” “The Usual Suspects”) has to defend himself on 12 counts. Four men accuse him of sexual assault, some serious, between 2001 and 2013 in London and the county of Gloucestershire. The actor then lived in the English capital, where he worked as artistic director at the Old Vic Theater.
At 10 a.m. local time, the actor begins in the courtroom with a journey through the decade and a half of his life in London. With a clear voice, a lifted chest and a skill that has been perfected over decades for taking the right pause at the right moment, he loses himself – or wants to lose himself – in memories. The actor speaks of colleagues at the Old Vic Theater, to whom he modestly credits the establishment’s success, of his dog Mini, whom he adopted from an animal shelter, of his acting girlfriend, whom he does everything in his power to cheer up after her husband’s death tried. He intersperses jokes, smiles at one point or another. He laughs once, but then quickly stops. This sign of amusement seems too grotesque given the gravity of the situation. Spacey, as these stories make clear, wants to show the jury that he is a very different man than the prosecutor has described in the past few days.
“A Sexual Predator”
Prosecutor Christine Agnew chose clear, harsh words. Spacey is a “sexual bully” who “enjoys making others feel helpless and uncomfortable.” The allegations that led them to this conclusion weigh heavily. For example, the report of a then-budding actor. In court, the alleged victim testified that he passed out or fell asleep in the prominent colleague’s London apartment. When he woke up, Spacey performed oral sex on him. The actor is a “vile sexual predator,” the man said. In the other cases, the men reported that the actor had touched them in public and private spaces, sometimes several times and in an aggressive manner, despite rejection in the intimate area. Once, according to his former driver, Spacey grabbed him between the legs while driving with such intensity that he almost drove the car off the road. “It was like a cobra would come out and bite.”
When asked about his relationship with his former driver, the accused’s tone changes. The words falter, the pauses seem less tested. The defendant says their connection was intimate, almost romantic. They touched and caressed each other. When the alleged victim said he didn’t want to go any further, Spacey accepted it. “It wasn’t violent, aggressive or painful. It was gentle,” said the 63-year-old. Then his voice breaks. He was devastated when he heard about the allegations. “I never thought that after 20 years he would stab me in the back like that.”
The actor denies all other allegations. However, he does admit to having consensual sex with a man in his apartment. After the sex, however, the mood in the room changed, Spacey said, and the man suddenly left the apartment in a hurry. Spacey later called him to ask if he was okay.
In the next few weeks, it will be up to the jury to weigh up which of these versions corresponds to the truth or at least comes closest to it. A difficult task in the case of allegations of this kind, as often only those involved can make a statement about their course.
His eyes lowered, his gait weary
In fact, this isn’t the first time Spacey has had to defend himself against allegations of this nature. More than 30 people, mostly men, have come forward with similar stories in recent years. But it is also a fact that the Oscar winner was acquitted by a court in a central case. It was an allegation that made him lose “my job, my reputation, everything” within days, as the actor now tearfully recapitulated in the courtroom.
In the fall of 2022, Spacey was found not guilty by a New York court in the sexual molestation case against actor Anthony Rapp. This had sued him for $ 40 million in damages after he was in October 2017 in a Interview with the online medium Buzzfeed had accused him of sexually harassing him at a party around 35 years ago when he was 14 at the time. This was followed by a wave of further allegations – and the beginning of the end of his career. Spacey lost his role in the hit series “House Of Cards”, other film projects and his agency parted with him. Since then he has only occasionally worked on low-budget film projects.
This Thursday at London’s Southwark Crown Court, Spacey is fighting to return to Hollywood, to live in the recognition he once received as a two-time Oscar winner. In an interview published in June with the “Time Magazine” he was finally confident. “As soon as I’m acquitted in London, certain people will start offering me roles again. In the same minute!”.
At the end of that day, after the actor has put away his handkerchief and the jury and judge have left the room, the question of that possibility lingers in the windowless room. The accused also gets up between the spectators and moves towards a back door. His eyes lowered, his gait weary.
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