Kevin Spacey is to accept a lifetime achievement award in Cannes next week, in what may constitute one of the most high-profile “uncancellings” of the #MeToo era.
On Tuesday, the Oscar-winning actor is due to receive an award for excellence in film and television at the Better World Fund’s 10th anniversary gala dinner at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.
Spacey, who is also visiting the world’s biggest film festival to help find buyers for his new film The Awakening, will be “recognised not only for his decades of artistic brilliance but also for his enduring impact on cinema and the arts”, according to a statement made by the fund. The Awakening is being presented in the Marche du Cannes, the industry market in the basement of the Palais du Cinema.
The gala is not an official part of the Cannes film festival. However, the Carlton hotel is one of the premiere sites of festival activity. The Guardian has contacted the festival’s press office to clarify whether Spacey will be granted the privilege of a red carpet appearance.
In July 2023, Spacey was found not guilty of sexually assaulting four men after a four-week trial at Southwark crown court, in one of the UK’s most high-profile #MeToo trials. He was previously cleared of sexual assault charges in a 2022 civil lawsuit in New York.
Since 2017, more than 30 men have accused Spacey of sexual assault or inappropriate behaviour, which led to Netflix shelving his biopic of Gore Vidal and removing him from the last season of House of Cards.
Earlier this year, Spacey responded bullishly to remarks by the actor Guy Pearce, who reiterated claims that Spacey had behaved inappropriately on the set of 1997 film LA Confidential.
Pearce told the Hollywood Reporter that Spacey “targeted me, no question”. He said he was “scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man”, before revealing that he had broken down in tears on learning of other allegations against Spacey in 2017.
“We worked together a long time ago,” Spacey responded in a video, addressing Pearce. “If I did something then that upset you, you could have reached out to me. We could have had that conversation, but instead, you’ve decided to speak to the press, who are now, of course, coming after me, because they would like to know what my response is to the things that you said. You really want to know what my response is? Grow up.”
Last week, the Cannes festival banned an actor from the red carpet after it became aware of allegations of rape against him. And the festival’s opening day, last Tuesday, was overshadowed by the conviction of one of its most lauded figures, the actor Gérard Depardieu, on sexual assault charges.
On Saturday, Sebastián Lelio’s musical The Wave had its Cannes premiere. The Chilean director’s new work was inspired by #MeToo-adjacent protests that shut down several colleges in Chile in 2018.
News of Spacey’s imminent visit to Cannes was met with a muted response on the Croisette. “I used to love Kevin Spacey as an actor”, said Valèrie Guelminger, who was part of a throng of spectators waiting for stars to walk the red carpet. “But now I feel sad and disappointed, and I am not sure I would cheer him on if he walked by now.”
“There are so many high-profile white men who could get an award like that, so why invite him?” said Stephanie Johns, 44, a Canadian screenwriter visiting the festival. “Couldn’t they get anyone else?”
The PR guru Mark Borkowski, an expert in brand and crisis management, said Cannes and the French film world had for many years offered “a huge amount of support” for another controversial figure, Roman Polanski. “They have a track record,” he said.
Borkowski said the award, which could be seen as “the film world taking Spacey back into their bosom”, was clearly a “very significant” moment.
“It feeds into the slow battle Kevin Spacey has fought, which is to get his purpose back. His purpose and whole being is to be an actor and he is, without doubt, one of the most extraordinary acting talents of any generation,” he said.
“He is not someone who has disappeared into the ether; he has fought it all the way and he has powerful supporters because ultimately he made a lot of people a lot of money.”
In terms of brand management, Borkowski said the biggest issue was that people had “short-term memory loss and long-term amnesia”.
“We move on from things. This [the Spacey award] shows that everyone has a shot of redemption; it shows that the further you get away from the noise of a scandal you can change the emotion of the crowd, right or wrong.”
Big tech was changing the world, he continued. “A publicist’s job nowadays is not to convince an editor, it is to turbocharge the algorithm.
“There are a lot of people who want to see Kevin Spacey back. I don’t have an opinion either way but ultimately, whatever he does next it will create clicks, it will create noise … you can’t be mediocre any more.”