Italy, it seems, has forgiven Kevin Spacey.
On July 21, the two-time Oscar-winning actor will be honored with Italy’s Nations Award for Lifetime Achievement at a special gala in the historic southern Sicilian town of Taormina. The award is organized under the patronage of the Italian Senate and the state of Sicily. At the event, Spacey is also set to give an onstage performance at Taormina’s historic Greek Theatre.
“Kevin Spacey is a timeless monument in film and theater history, who unquestionably deserves the chance to get his career back,” said award organizers Michel Curatolo and Marco Fallanca.
The honor comes as The Usual Suspects and American Beauty star continues to battle multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Spacey has always denied all criminal charges. He was found not guilty in sexual assault trials in the U.S. and the U.K. but still faces a new civil trial in Britain, set for next year, brought by a man who claims the actor sexually assaulted him.
A recent Channel 4 documentary, Spacey Unmasked, resurfaced the allegations against him and shone a new light on other alleged abuse. The actor fired back, denying the new allegations and saying he “would no longer be speechless.”
The first wave of allegations effectively ended Spacey’s Hollywood career. He was unceremoniously dropped from the last season of Netflix series House of Cards and replaced in the lead role of the Ridley Scott film All the Money in the World by Christopher Plummer.
But Italy has continued to support him. In 2022, Italy’s National Museum of Cinema in Turin invited Spacey to give a master class and celebrated his big-screen comeback with a role in the Italian feature The Man Who Drew God, directed by Franco Nero, which premiered at the Torino Film Festival.
