(Turin) Fallen actor Kevin Spacey was in the northern Italian city of Turin on Monday to receive a lifetime achievement award, teach a masterclass and present a screening of the film American Beauty.
The sold-out events were billed as Spacey’s first speeches since #metoo-era allegations derailed his burgeoning career. The two-time Oscar winner had lost his starring role in the Netflix series House of Cards and had seen many other job opportunities disappear.
Spacey shot his most recent film, The Man Who Drew God by director Franco Nero, in Turin. He was to receive an award for his contribution to the growth of cinema and to be interviewed about his career at the city’s National Film Museum.
Previous winners of the Stella della Mole award are actresses Isabella Rossellini and Monica Bellucci, as well as director Dario Argento.
Kevin Spacey is due to stand trial in London in June on a dozen charges that he sexually assaulted four men between 2001 and 2013, including when he was artistic director of the city’s Old Vic theatre. He pleaded not guilty.
In October, a federal jury in a civil case in New York found that 63-year-old Spacey did not sexually assault actor Anthony Rapp when the two were relatively unknown actors on Broadway in 1986 and that Rapp was 14 years old. Jurors deliberated for just over an hour before deciding that Rapp, now 50, had not proven his allegations.
Spacey has previously faced allegations in Massachusetts that he groped a man at a bar. Prosecutors later dropped the charges.
In August, a Los Angeles judge upheld an arbitrator’s decision that ordered Spacey to pay $30.9 million to the creators of House of Card for violating his contract by sexually harassing members of the film crew.