London Theater Cancels Premiere of Kevin Spacey’s New Film
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A London movie theater that was set to host the debut of Kevin Spacey’s new film Control — one of the actor’s first roles since he was accused of sexual misconduct — has canceled the movie’s premiere, saying it was “horrified that we are being mentioned in the same breath as his new film.”
Prince Charles Cinema, a movie theater near London’s Leicester Square that screens independent films, notified the producers of the Welsh thriller Control that the theater would not premiere the film after learning that Spacey is in the film, the Daily Mail reported (via Deadline).
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“We have an issue. It is with my apologies that I have to inform you that we have cancelled your hire with us,” the cinema’s management wrote in a letter to Control’s lead actress Lauren Metcalf.
“Last night it came to our attention that your film features Kevin Spacey, in particular his first film since the court case. My staff as well as I are horrified that we are being mentioned in the same breath as his new film for the premiere.”
Spacey does not actually appear on screen in the film, but he has a significant voice-only role, and he’s top-billed on the Control movie poster.
Following the cancellation, the film’s director Gene Fallaize said that Control’s world premiere will now take place at the “the larger Genesis Cinema on Nov 14.”
In July, Spacey was found not guilty of nine charges of sexual assault and misconduct in a London trial, with the jury reaching its verdict after about 12 hours of deliberation. Spacey had faced 13 counts at one point during the trial, but four charges of indecent assault were struck due to a “legal technicality.”
Spacey has always denied the accusations, which stemmed from allegations made by four men, who accused the actor of unwanted advances and touching, and in one instance, alleged oral sex without consent. Spacey was first hit with five sexual assault charges in May 2022, the allegations tied to claims he assaulted three men between 2005 and 2013. Then, in Nov. 2022, the Crown Prosecution Serviced tacked on an additional seven charges related to “a number of sexual assaults against one man between 2001 and 2004.”
The U.K. trial followed numerous allegations of sexual assault and misconduct in recent years — which Spacey has denied. The actor previously saw charges dropped and dismissed in criminal and civil cases in Massachusetts and California in 2019. In the Massachusetts case, the charges were dropped after the accuser invoked the Fifth Amendment, while the California case was dismissed after the accuser died of natural causes.
In October 2022, Spacey was found not liable for battery in his civil lawsuit trial tied to the sexual misconduct allegations made against him by Anthony Rapp, who accused the actor of sexual assault in 1986 when Rapp was 14 years old.
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