Kevin Spacey Can he revive his Hollywood career
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00:00 Kevin, would you just do one question for Sky?
00:04 From Oscar winner to outcast. A London jury sealing the fate of the darling of Hollywood
00:10 no more. "My world exploded," Kevin Spacey told jurors as he gave evidence during his
00:15 sexual assault trial. "There was a rush to judgment and before the first question was
00:20 asked or answered, I lost everything in a matter of days."
00:27 Jurors had to decide whether he was telling the truth or if it was simply another brilliant
00:31 performance. Their not guilty verdict showing they believed what the actor had to say.
00:37 "I imagine that many of you can understand that there's a lot for me to process after
00:46 what has just happened today. But I would like to say that I'm enormously grateful to
00:55 the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully
01:06 before they reached their decision. And I am humbled by the outcome today. I also want
01:14 to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of
01:21 us every single day. My legal team, Evan Lowenstein and Lucy for being here every day. And that's
01:32 all I have to say for the moment. Thank you very much."
01:36 From Sir Elton John being called to give evidence to tales of Spacey teaching Dame Judi Dench
01:40 ping pong. A strange and surreal world of celebrity at the centre of this trial.
01:47 At its core, two sides to the story. Kevin Spacey was either, as the defence put it,
01:51 a hard working actor and a charming flirt who after rising to the top wanted to help
01:56 others. Or as the prosecution claimed, a sexual bully who got off on making men feel uncomfortable.
02:03 Using his fame to assault, grab, grope and behave with impunity.
02:09 The accusations and the noise that surrounded this even before it got to court was incredibly
02:14 damaging for him.
02:17 The timing of the claims mostly coincided with Spacey's 11 year tenure as artistic director
02:22 at the Old Vic. Signing him up had been quite the coup.
02:25 "It's not film, it's not television. It's live. And for me, I'm a theatre rat, so for
02:32 me it is the greatest form of expression."
02:35 "I interviewed Spacey in 2006. He was very much putting on an air of confidence. He wants
02:43 to be seen as an ordinary artistic director, not a big Hollywood star."
02:50 Turning the theatre's fortunes around and winning awards to boot. But just a few years
02:54 after his grand departure, in 2017 at the height of the Me Too movement, less flattering
03:00 accounts of that time started to emerge.
03:03 "The Old Vic apologises wholeheartedly to the people who told us that they've been affected."
03:09 It started after American actor Anthony Rapp claimed when he was 14 and working on Broadway,
03:15 Spacey then 26, made drunken sexual advances.
03:19 While a civil court in the US last year found in Spacey's favour, that initial moment caused
03:24 a domino effect of claims.
03:26 Sacked from his hit show House of Cards for allegedly sexually harassing crew members,
03:31 Spacey's production companies were ordered to pay back almost $31 million in losses to
03:36 producers.
03:37 Aside from turning up at obscure film festivals, work dried up and he faced mounting legal
03:43 bills. Stuck in limbo. Until police eventually charged him last year in connection with claims
03:48 made by four men. Photographers fighting to get a shot for very different reasons.
03:57 His trial taking a year to get underway when the detail of the allegations eventually became
04:02 public.
04:03 "One man who'd approached Spacey for career mentorship claimed he'd ended up passing out
04:09 at the actor's flat after being invited out by him for late night drinks around Waterloo.
04:15 Claiming Spacey drugged him and he woke up to find the actor performing a sex act on
04:18 him. To which Spacey's team argued he'd shared an intimate but consensual moment with the
04:23 man."
04:24 Another victim, a driver, claimed he was assaulted more than 10 times by Spacey over the course
04:29 of four years.
04:32 In one instance, on the way to a showbiz party, he said the actor grabbed his genitals so
04:36 hard he almost drove off the road.
04:39 Spacey's team questioned the dates, picking apart the finer details. With Spacey saying
04:44 he felt crushed that the man, someone he considered a friend, had gone to the police.
04:48 "They'd been mutually flirtatious," he said. "And any touching wasn't violent, but romantic
04:53 in his eyes."
04:55 Welcoming the chance, he said, to finally set the record straight in a court of law.
05:00 Spacey told the jury the case against him was weak.
05:03 Giving evidence for around a day and a half, from Spacey, there were tears as he spoke
05:08 of losing everything. And there was humour when he admitted feeling lonely. Asked if
05:12 he'd reached out to people to ease the burden. There was laughter in the court as he said,
05:17 "Sure. Welcome to life."
05:19 But there was nothing funny about the claims he faced. His defence that accusers were either
05:24 lying to get money, had their facts wrong or were confused about how to process their
05:28 attraction to him.
05:30 The star doggedly digging through old records, boxes of photos and any evidence that could
05:35 disprove the claims.
05:37 "The question is, does this verdict allow Kevin Spacey to be Kevin Spacey, to be the
05:44 iconic actor who has oodles of talent to regain his position as one of the A-listers of Hollywood?
05:57 Sadly not. We live in a corporate world now and raising money, getting insurance, all
06:04 those other factors exist on social media where mainstream media has not got the same
06:10 power. He will always, I'm afraid, have to suffer despite the fact that he's been proved
06:16 innocent."
06:18 His glittering acting career tarnished by claims that weren't proven to be true. In
06:23 debt, having had little work, it's likely the star will be hoping a not guilty verdict
06:29 can finally signal his Hollywood return.
06:31 Katie Spencer, Sky News.