The former 'House of Cards' actor thanks the Italian cinema community for welcoming him with Lifetime Achievement Award amid multiple sexual offense allegations levelled against him.
- Jan 18, 2023
AceShowbiz - Kevin Spacey commended the Italian National Cinema Museum for having "the b****" to honour him ahead of his sexual offences trial. The "American Beauty" actor, 63, gave the remarks as he controversially accepted the Stella della Mole (Lifetime Achievement) Award in Turin, northern Italy, on Monday, January 16, 2023, adding he felt "truly blessed and grateful" to pick up the tribute.
"The first performance that I ever gave was in my junior high school drama class. It was a little five-minute scene that we had to create, with no words. But we could have music. I was 11 years old. And I decided to do a Western scene, so that I could play a cowboy. Well, a bank robber. The bad guy, naturally," he said, dressed in a tuxedo.
"I have been so honoured to have been part of the creative process with so many remarkable people. Filmmakers, artists and technicians I have had the chance to work with. Who would not consider tonight the perfect opportunity to say, 'Thank you!' "
"You are not just honouring me. You are honouring all of them. I am truly blessed and grateful and humbled. And my heart is very full tonight toward the National Museum of Cinema for having had the le palle ('the b****' in Italian) to invite me tonight."
Also thanking his manager Evan Lowenstein for his loyalty, Spacey added, "It's almost impossible to tell you all what he has done. The degree of guidance and wisdom that he has brought to my life. He is unlike anyone."
"Evan has not only stood beside me. He has stood in front of me when I needed to be led and stood behind me when I needed to be shoved. He is a remarkable man and it has been his ability to take whatever setbacks we've faced and somehow get up and keep moving forward. And that has given me the strength to somehow stand up and follow him. I am truly blessed to have you as my brother. The brother I never had, so thank you."
The decision to reward Spacey, who shot his most recent movie "The Man Who Drew God" in Turin, with the honour has been met with widespread rage as he is at the centre of a series of sexual abuse allegations.
He recently told Italian news agency Ansa he has tried to live each day as it comes and that he has not gone "to live in a cave" amid the sexual offences accusations against him. Spacey added, "I live my life each day, I go to the restaurant, I meet people, I drive, I play tennis, I've always met generous, genuine and compassionate people."
"I haven't hidden away, I haven't gone to live in a cave. What you see in the media is not real life, I'm not getting my public life back because I've never left it."
Spacey last week denied seven more sexual offences against a man alleged to have been committed in the early 2000s, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He faced the charges at Southwark Crown Court, London, on January 13 after he previously denied five allegations relating to three other men who are now aged in their 30s and 40s.
Spacey now faces 12 charges relating to four men between 2001 and 2013 and will face a month-long trial on all of them from 6 June, with a pre-trial review set for 5 April.
Spacey's lawyer Patrick Gibbs QC has said the actor "strenuously denies" all charges. In October 2022 the actor won a civil lawsuit in America that saw him accused of an "unwanted sexual advance" at a party in 1986.
