Kevin Spacey Set For High-Profile Week With Friday 13th Court Hearing In The U.K. & Honorary Award Event In Italy

Melanie Goodfellow
·3 min read
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Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has been keeping a low profile since a string of sexual misconduct accusations brought derailed his stellar career in 2017.

The actor will be back in the headlines over the coming week, however, with a court hearing in London, followed by an honorary awards event in Italy, where he will make his first voluntary public appearance in five years.

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London’s Southwark Crown Court has confirmed that a second hearing related to seven sexual assault charges brought by a single male complainant, will take place on January 13 as previously announced.

The court told Deadline on Wednesday that Spacey will not be attending in person but rather by live video-link, as was the case for the first hearing related to the case on December 16.

Three days later, Spacey is set to be honored at a special event organized by Italy’s National Cinema Museum in the northern city of Turin on Monday, January 16.

The two-time Academy Award winner will give a public masterclass, moderated by the museum’s director Domenico De Gaetano and then receive the institution’s Stella della Mole Award for lifetime achievement.

The museum says the actor has been collaborating closely on the key elements of the masterclass and that the public event sold out within five minutes of the tickets going online.

Named after Turin’s Mole Antonelliana architectural landmark which houses the cinema museum, previous recipients of the Stella della Mole Award include actors Isabella Rossellini, Monica Bellucci, and Malcolm McDowell, as well as directors Xavier Dolan and Dario Argento.

Spacey will then present a special screening of Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar in 2000.

Friday’s court hearing in London is related to seven Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorized charges that are alleged to have taken place between 2001 and 2004.

They span three of indecent assault, three of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The charges are in addition to five earlier charges brought by three men. Spacey pleaded not guilty at an initial hearing last July for these earlier charges. A trial date for that case has been set for June 6, 2023.

In between times, a jury sided with Spacey in New York in October to find the actor not liable in a $40M sexual misconduct lawsuit brought by Rent and Star Trek: Discovery Anthony Rapp.

Rapp, who has been on stage since he was a child, testified that Spacey had made unwanted advances at a party in his apartment after they met on Broadway when he was a teenager.

After a two-week civil trial, the jury concluded that Spacey did not molest Rapp.

Rapp responded to the verdict with a Tweet saying he was grateful for having been able to share his testimony, explaining the “lawsuit was always about was always about shining a light, as part of the larger movement to stand up against all forms of sexual violence.”

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