Kevin Spacey came out swinging against Guy Pearce Tuesday after the Australian actor claimed he was “targeted” by the Oscar winner with sexually “aggressive” behavior while the two worked together on the set of the 1997 film “L.A. Confidential.”
In a video shared on X, Spacey took issue with Pearce raising such concerns nearly 30 years later, after he’s already been “through hell and back” — his apparent reference to being accused by multiple men of sexual misconduct since 2017 but scoring victories against some of those allegations in civil and criminal trials. “I mean, you want to have a conversation,” an angry, combative Spacey said. “I’m happy to do so … But Guy, you need to grow up. You are not a victim.”
Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe (C) and Guy Pearce (R) in a scene from “L.A. Confidential” which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture 10 February in Beverly Hills. “L.A. Confidential” was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress. AFP PHOTO WARNER BROTHERS/mn ORG XMIT: L
But in defending himself, Spacey, 65, appeared to lend credence to Pearce’s characterization of him as “an aggressive” man who could be capable of “targeting” someone. This characterization came in Pearce’s interview this week on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. In a conversation with editor Scott Feinberg, an emotional and reflective Pearce got choked up, recalling his unpleasant experience working with Spacey, as the two played 1950s Los Angeles cops in the classic neo-noir film.
“Really, I was sort of scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man,” said the 57-year-old Pearce, who is currently nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his performance in “The Brutalist.” In that film, as it happens, Pearce plays a controlling, wealthy 1950s industrialist with anger issues.
“He’s extremely charming and brilliant at what he does — really impressive, etc.,” the Australian actor said about Spacey. “He holds a room remarkably. But I was young and susceptible, and he targeted me, no question.”
Contrary to what Spacey said in his video, Pearce said this isn’t the first time he has addressed having a “slightly difficult time with Kevin” while filming “L.A. Confidential” in 1996. In a 2018 interview in Australia, Pearce called Spacey “a handsy guy,” CNN reported.
This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody, left, and Guy Pearce in a scene from “The Brutalist.” (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)
Pearce’s 2018 comments came after Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple men at the height of the #MeToo movement, including by actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged that Spacey molested him when he was 14 years old. In that 2018 interview, Pearce similarly complimented Spacey as an “amazing,” “incredible actor,” but he said, “Thankfully I was 29 and not 14.”
Pearce subsequently clarified his comments about Spacey in a statement to CNN, saying that he was not “sexually assaulted or molested.” But he said, “I was made to feel uncomfortable. I addressed and handled the situation when it took place, hence my regret at making it public now.”
In speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Pearce likewise acknowledged that he was not sexually assaulted or molested by Spacey.
“I don’t wanna use the word ‘victim’ because even though I probably was a victim to a degree, I was certainly not a victim by any means to the extent that other people have been to sexual predators,” Pearce said. “But I did that thing that you do where you brush it off and you go ‘Oh haha no, that’s nothing.’”
While filming “L.A. Confidential,” Pearce was in Los Angeles with his then-wife, Kate. He recalled telling her that “the only days I feel safe are the days when (Australian co-star Simon Baker) is on set because I’m dumped like a hot potato, and (Kevin) focuses on [Simon) because he was 10 times prettier than I am.”
Pearce told Feinberg that it took decades for him to process what happened with Spacey. But he began to do so after other men came forward to speak up about their experiences with Spacey during the #MeToo movement. Spacey, in fact, was hit with a wave of allegations, extending from film sets and production locations to the Old Vic Theatre, where the actor had served as the artist director, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Pearce said he caught the headlines about the Spacey allegations while he was working in London. “I heard (the reports) and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn’t stop,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it really dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had either shelved it or blocked it out or whatever. That was a really incredible wake-up call.”
Also contrary to Spacey’s claim that Pearce never spoke to him about behavior, Pearce said he has since “had a couple of confrontations with Kevin” that “got ugly.”
In his video, Spacey said that Pearce visited him in Georgia, about a year after working on “L.A. Confidential.” Spacey said Pearce came to Georgia, while he was filming “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “just to spend time with me.”
“I apologize that I didn’t get the message that you don’t like spending time with me,” Spacey said. “Maybe there was another reason, I don’t know, but that doesn’t make any sense. That you would have just been leading me on, right? But here you are now on a mission, some 28 years later, after I’ve been through hell and back.”
To the Hollywood Reporter, Pearce said he didn’t want to focus too much in interviews on his personal experience with Spacey and yet, “I don’t want him to get away with what he gets away with.”
Pearce’s comments about Spacey no doubt come at a difficult time for the “House of Cards” actor. On one hand, he has received support in the past year from stars like Sharon Stone and Liam Neeson, who’ve gone public with their beliefs that he was a victim of a #MeToo-era witch hunt and should be allowed to resume his Hollywood career.
“I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work,” Stone said in a 2024 interview with The Telegraph. “He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.”
Spacey was effectively blacklisted by the film and theater industry after the allegations against him first surfaced, starting with Rapp’s claims, stemming from an incident at Spacey’s Manhattan apartment in the 1980s. Among other things, Spacey was fired from the hit Netflix series “House of Cards” and from Ridley Scott’s 2017 film “All the Money in the World.” But Spacey scored some victories. When Rapp’s lawsuit went to trial in New York in 2022, a civil jury sided with Spacey, finding that he did not molest the young actor, NPR reported. Spacey was also cleared of all charges in a 2023 criminal trial in London, dealing with sexual assault allegations made by four other men, CNN reported.
But Spacey has other challenges, PR experts and people in the film industry said last year. For one thing, he built his career on playing “creepy,” “sleazy,” or “sinister” characters onscreen, including his Academy Award-winning role in “American Beauty.” The Telegraph also reported in October 2023 that Spacey’s reputation has been so damaged by the controversy that there’s probably no straightforward way for him to resume his film and TV career. He also remains “unpopular” with some in the entertainment industry for the way he came out as gay in response to the initial assault allegations made by Rapp, The Telegraph also said.
