«He invited me to see “Saving Private Ryan” with him, he chose seats in the back and during the landing scene he started masturbating. I was sitting next to me, petrified, it was the bloodiest scene in the film and he took pleasure in it.” It is the testimony of one of Kevin Spacey’s many accusers in «Spacey Unmasked»starting Friday on Discovery+.
There are moments in the documentary which are a punch in the stomach. Brother Randy’s story for example: “We didn’t have a normal childhood, the abuse was constant.”
Produced and directed by Katherine Haywood, The two-part miniseries traces the path of Spacey’s predatory behavior throughout his career, from his beginnings at the Juilliard School in New York to the successes of “American Beauty” and “House of Cards.”
Between the production of the documentary and its broadcast there were two trials, one in New York and the other in London, both ending in acquittal, but Haywood’s work does not concern itself with the legal aspect. She probes Spacey’s conduct through the testimony of about ten men. «What we wanted to do is start from the beginning, observe his conduct even when he was not known. Speaking with his schoolmates, with his colleagues from the beginning, we wanted to understand if his behavior preceded his rise to power.”
Everyone has a horror story: a colleague on the set of «House of Cards», a schoolmate, an usher from the Old Vic, the London theater of which the actor, twice Oscar winner, was artistic director. Randy, his older brother, talks about the sexual violence inflicted by his father, a pro-Nazi and white supremacist, with the guilty silence of his mother. “When I ran away from home after years of abuse, I feared for my brother, but I was confident that my mother would at least help him.”
It’s the family roots at the base of Spacey’s behavior? In 2017, in the wake of the Me Too movement, Spacey was accused for the first time by a colleague, Anthony Rapp. A snowball effect followed. «We listened to many people, not all of whom were represented in the documentary. Everyone talks about the same predatory behavior – says Haywood -. Mental distress emerges. However, the documentary does not express a diagnosis but asks questions. Did Kevin Spacey understand the evil he did? The toxic environment he created?
Immediately after the first complaint, the actor said he was sorry but put an “if” in the statement: “I apologize if my behavior caused offense.” Then he deflected attention by declaring his homosexuality. But everyone already knew, even about the attacks. «Perhaps it is the condition of the human mind that often does not want to see a reality that is clear – continues the director -. There is incredible talent and you see that. Before Me Too, for many years we did not see the pain it created. Then we did it, but it seemed like a female-only problem. This film shows that this is not the case.”
Men who talk about shame and the sense of guilt. «Women are often asked, why didn’t you fight? Their physical weakness becomes guilt, but these men have masses of well-trained muscles and yet they felt small and powerless, and they too did not react. I think this explains a lot to right-thinking people about “you had to rebel”.
Spacey’s reaction in a post on X: «Every time I have been accused in the appropriate places I have been exonerated. I’ll make myself heard.”
