Kevin Spacey returns to film after harassment scandal

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Deadline reports that the 62-year-old film actor “American Beauty” and “Seven” Kevin Spacey, who was “cancelled” five years ago after allegations of harassment, is returning to the film industry. Spacey was approved for the lead role of Batu Khan in the British-Mongolian-Hungarian historical drama “1242 – Gate to the West.” The plot of the picture is built around the grandson of Genghis Khan, who, after a series of conquests, meets a spiritual man who dissuades the khan from invading Europe.

Filming will start in October this year and will take place in Hungary and Mongolia. It is known that in addition to Spacey, such Hollywood stars as Eric Roberts, Christopher Lambert and Terence Stump will also take part in the film.

Note that Spacey still managed to star in the Italian film “The Man Who Attracted God” last year, but received a minor role.

Recall that Spacey’s first allegations of sexual harassment against minors appeared at the end of 2017. Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp has claimed that when he was 14 years old, Spacey tried to seduce him. According to Rapp, in the early 80s, the actors played in one of the Broadway musicals. One day, 25-year-old Spacey invited a 14-year-old colleague to a party at his home. After the guests dispersed, Spacey laid the guest on the bed and lay down on top. There was no contact between them: Rapp managed to free himself from Spacey’s embrace. According to the actor, he decided to make a confession after a scandal broke out with producer Harvey Weinstein. In his blog, Kevin Spacey, who was forced to confess his bisexuality, turned to Anthony Rapp and apologized to him:

I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I was horrified to hear his story. I honestly don’t remember the meeting, it was over 30 years ago. But if I acted as he describes, I must offer him a sincere apology for my extremely inappropriate drunken behavior. I’m sorry that the feelings he describes were with him for many years…

In addition to Rapp, he was accused of a sex crime by an anonymous man who signed with the initials CD and stated that he attended Spacey’s acting classes at the age of 12. In a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court, CD says Spacey invited him to his apartment and “had sex with him.” During their last meeting, Spacey attacked the teenager, although he tried to fight back.

After Rapp’s statements in 2017, Kevin was accused of several more sexual crimes, but only one case came to court, which, however, did not end with anything. The hearing was adjourned due to the unavailability of a witness for the prosecution. The result of all these scandals was the dismissal of Spacey from the series “House of Cards” (his hero was taken out of the plot of the final season) and the drama “All the Money in the World”, as well as the termination of other contracts in projects that were just preparing for filming.

In November 2021, MRC, the film studio behind House of Cards, won a breach of contract case against the actor following a sex scandal that tarnished the show’s reputation. Spacey was ordered to pay the film company $31 million.