Five years after #MeToo, the fight continues. Actor Kevin Spacey, twice Oscar winner for “Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty”, received the Stella della Mole prize in Turin on Tuesday, January 17, which distinguishes an actor or actress for his entire career. A prestigious award for the actor banned from Hollywood following numerous accusations of sexual assault.
It was Vittorio Sgarbi, the Italian Deputy Minister of Culture, who presented the statuette to the American actor, thanking him and warmly congratulating him on his work. Seeming thereby to forget the charges against the actor.
Kevin Spacey has indeed become persona non grata in Hollywood, and one of the iconic personalities denounced following the #MeToo movement. The actor is being prosecuted for four sexual assaults, perpetrated between 2003 and 2015 on three men, when he was director of the London theater “Old Vic”. On Friday January 13, he pleaded not guilty to seven new charges of sexual assault.
In total, he must now answer twelve charges related to inappropriate behavior in the United Kingdom. His trial, scheduled for next June, should last a month and shed light on these cases. Also prosecuted in the United States, he was found not guilty last October by the New York court for acts of sexual touching.
A comeback?
Accusations which therefore did not prevent Italian cinema from celebrating him, nor director Franco Nero from including him in the cast of “L’Uomo che disegno dio”, released in November 2021. This is the first role of the 63-year-old actor since the charges against him, which resulted in him being kicked out of the ‘House of Cards’ series and ostracized from all film productions.
An Italian prize that contrasts with the general attitude towards the actor who now seemed infrequent. Kevin Spacey said when receiving his award:
“My heart is filled with gratitude to the Cinema Museum for having the balls to invite me tonight”
A prize that still sounds like a slight inconsistency on the part of the Stella della Mole prize, awarded last year to Monica Bellucci, one of the actresses who fervently supports the #MeToo movement.
