Kevin Spacey gets first film role following sexual assault allegations

ROME • American actor Kevin Spacey has been cast in a film in what is believed to be the first time since accusations of sexual assault against him started surfacing more than three years ago, prompting several court cases and unravelling his on-screen career.

The film, L'uomo Che Disegno Dio (The Man Who Drew God), is an Italian feature.

English actress Vanessa Redgrave has a role and it will be directed by her husband, Italian actor Franco Nero, who rose to fame via the spaghetti western Django (1966), said co-producer Louis Nero, adding that Spacey, who plays a detective, is not a lead in the film.

Television and film producers started dropping Spacey, 61, from projects after actor Anthony Rapp in 2017 accused him of making unwanted sexual advances towards him in the 1980s, when he was 14 years old.

More accusations followed and several men have sued Spacey over their accounts of sexual assault and other misconduct.

Spacey was swiftly excluded from the Netflix political thriller House Of Cards (2013 to 2018), replaced by late actor Christopher Plummer in the Sony film All The Money In The World (2017) and played writer Gore Vidal in a biopic that never saw the light of day.

Less than a year after the accusations, he appeared in a supporting role for a finished movie called Billionaire Boys Club (2018), but he has not appeared in a television show or film since.

Louis Nero said the movie is about a blind artist, played by Franco Nero, who draws portraits of subjects by listening to their voices.

Redgrave is slated to play a woman who teaches the artist to read Braille, Louis Nero said.

The film-makers hope to complete the project in September. Spacey has not yet filmed his role.

Asked about the sexual assault allegations, Louis Nero said: "I only know that he is a good actor. That's it."

It is not uncommon for actors and film-makers accused of sexual assault to find work in Europe after opportunities dry up in the United States.

Director Roman Polanski, who fled the US for Europe in 1978 while awaiting sentencing for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, won big at France's equivalent of the Academy Awards last year.

Director Woody Allen, who was accused of sexual assault by his daughter Dylan Farrow, has also reoriented himself to Europe since the #MeToo movement revived criticism of those working with him.

NYTIMES