What It's Like to Work With Kevin Spacey Now (2024)

Is Kevin Spacey deserving of a comeback? If you ask the cast and crew who just worked with him on a recent film set, the answer is a resounding yes.

Seven years since Spacey's career imploded after he was accused, at the height of the #MeToo movement, of making a sexual pass at a younger actor in 1986, the one-time A-lister is attempting to inch his way back into show business. Spacey most recently starred in the low-budget Neo-noir thriller "Peter Five Eight," in what was marketed as his comeback vehicle.

The film, which went direct to streaming with a limited theatrical release, did not make much of an impact with audiences. But those who worked with Spacey in front of and behind the camera on the project say the raw, dramatic talent for which the actor was always known had not been lost since his so-called cancellation.

"Working with Kevin was a thrill," Jet Jandreau, who co-starred in "Peter Five Eight," told Newsweek. "He's intense, he's funny and he was supportive of me as an actor in every scene we worked on together. He was supportive of the entire cast and crew and routinely had us in stitches on and off camera."

Michael Zaiko Hall, the director of the film, said he was happy to play a part in delivering Spacey back to audiences.

"I missed Kevin on screen. I thought it was far too long since the culture was treated to a new Kevin performance," Hall told Newsweek. "My humble opinion is that he does not deserve to be canceled. I don't think that he's in the category where that's warranted."

The director said he saw a big difference between what Spacey was accused of and the crimes and transgressions of other big names in Hollywood, such as Harvey Weinstein, that were being exposed around the same time.

Lumping Spacey, who was acquitted of all nine charges brought against him, with someone like Weinstein, who was convicted of rape, only served to "deprive" society of the work of a great actor, Hall said.

Spacey, now 64, began his acting career in 1986 in small comedy-drama roles. He went on to become known for playing iconic characters in films like "The Usual Suspects" and shows like "House of Cards." He's won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Tony.

In 2017, actor Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey, while intoxicated, made sexual advances toward him at a party 31 years prior. Rapp was 14 at the time, and Spacey would have been 26.

Spacey immediately put out a statement saying he didn't remember the encounter but that he owed Rapp "the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior." Rapp then sued Spacey for sexual assault, sexual battery and the intentional infliction of emotional distress under the Child Victims Act.

A jury found Spacey not liable on all counts.

Similar allegations were made by four men after the Rapp suit. Some lawsuits were withdrawn, and the rest of the charges were dismissed in 2023.

Spacey on Set

On the first day of filming "Peter Five Eight," which happened back in late 2021, Jandreau said Spacey gave her a book called "Letters from Hollywood." It includes letters old Hollywood icons sent each other.

"I had the chance to learn more about the stars I loved from that era," Jandreau said. "It opened my eyes to the ups and downs and repeated cycles our industry has gone through."

An affinity for old films also connected Spacey and Hall, the director. The movie is meant to be set in a modern city but still have a feel of an older film, Hall said.

"Kevin's a cinephile. He knows the melodramatic acting style of the period."

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The crew was in production mode for about a week before Spacey joined, Hall said, saying that Spacey appeared nervous to come back to an American film set despite his one-time status as a leading man.

"Kevin calls me and he goes 'I feel like it's the first day of school,'" Hall said. "He also didn't know what kind of perception he would receive on set."

The filming started before Spacey was acquitted of all the sexual assault charges brought against him in a London court. There was still some resistance to casting him, and one crew member left the production team over it.

But the vast majority of the group "just loved Kevin," Hall said.

"He was determined to be a supportive player of this team and not bring any ego or his history to it," Hall said, recalling that Spacey would call himself a "company man." "He really was that. He was incredible and supportive."

Spacey wanted to "send the elevator back down," Hall said, supporting up and coming actors just like people did for him when he was getting his start in Hollywood.

"When he's in character and he's on set, he's an intense performer and we wanted him to be," Hall said. "He also brings a comedy within the role to life," leaving people "in stitches" on set.

Jandreau, Spacey's co-star, called him a "performing genius" who "came to each scene with a unique idea of how to take it to the next level."

"That's how Kevin is as a performer," Jandreau told Newsweek. "Whenever he's on screen the audience is guaranteed to be entertained because Kevin adds an indescribable kinetic energy to it."

Seven years after the first accusations came to light, Spacey has never been convicted or found liable of a crime. He recently told Piers Morgan in a tearful interview that he was broke and on the verge of losing his home. Still, no major Hollywood studio has signed on to a Kevin Spacey project ("Peter Five Eight" was picked up by Invincible Entertainment, an independent distributor.)

His IMDb page shows his only other future production to be an Italian film in which he's listed as playing the Devil.