Kevin Spacey responded Tuesday to the recent accusations from Guy Pearce about the set of L.A. Confidential in 1997, telling the Australian actor to "grow up," while adding: "You are not a victim."
Pearce — who has been doing the rounds for the upcoming Academy Awards, where he is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Brutalist — was a guest on The Hollywood Reporter's podcast: Awards Chatter, with their executive awards editor Scott Feinberg. The interview dives into Pearce's career, and during the conversation the actor got candid about his experience with Spacey and the mountain of sexual misconduct allegations that had halted the Academy Award winner's career.
The two actors worked together on Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential where they, along with Russell Crowe, played cops investigating a series of murders. In a 2018 interview with Australian talk show host, Andrew Denton, Pearce described Spacey as "a handsy guy." The interview came after the 2017 #MeToo movement, which threw several allegations of sexual misconduct at Spacey and numerous other powerful people in Hollywood.
During the interview with Feinberg, Pearce mentioned that he is still good friends with Crowe, but the same could not be said for Spacey. Pearce, who was 28 at the time of shooting the film, said that there was fear when working with Spacey, but he responded to his advances by brushing them off. "Ah, that's nothing. Ah, no, that's nothing," he said. "I did that for five months, and really I was sort of scared of Kevin because he's quite an aggressive man."
He went on to say that Spacey "targeted me, no question," and said that he would tell his then-wife that the only days he felt safe was when co-star Simon Baker was present, because Spacey would turn his attention to Baker.
Pearce reflected on the time he first heard about the reports coming out as a result of the #MeToo movement. "I was in London working on something, and I heard and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn't stop," he said. "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."
Despite his experiences, Pearce said he was hesitant to use the word victim in regard to himself. "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."
In response to Pearce's comments, Spacey took to X, Tuesday, with a video.
"We worked together a long time ago," Spacey began. "If I did something then that upset you, you could have reached out to me. We could have had that conversation, but instead, you've decided to speak to the press, who are now, of course, coming after me because they would like to know what my response is to the things you said. You really want to know what my response is? Grow up."
Spacey claimed that Pearce omitted the information that he had come to visit him in Georgia — while he was filming Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — "just to spend time with me."
"I mean, did you tell the press that too, or does that not fit into the victim narrative you have going?" he said.
Spacey concluded the video saying, "Here you are now on a mission, some 28 years later, after I've been through hell and back to do what? Just in time to stop the bad guy. Is that what's going on here? What took you so long? Did your horse run out of gas? I mean, you want to have a conversation, I'm happy to do so anytime, any place. We can even do it here live on X if you'd like, I've got nothing to hide. But Guy, you need to grow up. You are not a victim."
Pearce has not issued a response to the video.
This back-and-forth between the two actors comes about week after Spacey had yet another British lawsuit lobbied against him for sexual assault. Reuters reported on Feb. 12 that the actor was sued in a civil suit by a claimant at London's High Court and that the case was also being brought against London's Old Vic theatre, where Spacey worked as artistic director from around 2003.
No details of the lawsuit were available. ~Ryan Donahue
There's always sides to a story... Nobody knows the whole truth/story.