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Two years after Kevin Spacey was acquitted of rape charges, Spacey’s former co-star Guy Pearce doesn’t “want him to get away with what he gets away with.” Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, the Oscar-nominated Pearce claims that Spacey harassed him for months on the set of L.A. Confidential. Spacey has been persona non grata in Hollywood since Anthony Rapp accused the actor of making sexual advances on him when he was 14 in 1986. For Pearce, Rapp’s allegations were a “wake-up call” to his own experiences with Spacey. “I was in London working on something, and I heard, and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn’t stop,” Pearce said.” I think it really dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had either shelved it or blocked it out or whatever.”
Pearce was 29 when he made L.A. Confidential with Spacey, and he spent the production brushing off Spacey’s advances and convincing himself that it was “nothing.” The Brutalist actor says he “did that for five months” and became “sort of scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man.” Pearce admits that Spacey is “extremely charming and brilliant at what he does[…]He holds a room remarkably, but I was young and susceptible, and he targeted me, no question.” He recalls telling his then-wife Kate that he only felt “safe” when actor Simon Baker was on set because Spacey “dumped [Pearce] like a potato” as Spacey moved on to Baker.
Though he does not specify when these confrontations occurred, Pearce claims he had several clashes with Spacey that “got ugly.” This isn’t the first time he invoked his issues with Spacey. In 2018, Pearce told Australian talk show host Andrew Denton, “Amazing actor. Incredible actor. Slightly difficult time with Kevin, yeah. He’s a handsy guy. Thankfully, I was 29 and not 14.” He later clarified: “I very much understand that it’s too sensitive a topic to be brushed off. Although I wasn’t sexually assaulted or molested, I was made to feel uncomfortable. I addressed and handled the situation when it took place, hence my regret at making it public now.” In a 2022 interview with Piers Morgan, Spacey admitted as much, telling the host that he was “handsy” with other men—though he prefers to say he “caressed” these men, not groped them. In 2024, 10 more men accused Spacey of assault.
