The jury who will decide the actor’s fate Kevin Spacey was sworn in on Wednesday in a London court like Oscar winner faces charges of sexually assaulting four men as long as two decades ago.
The outcome of the trial could put Spacey in jail or revive his career.
The two-time Oscar winner dressed in a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and pink tie confidently strode into the court and was called by his full name. He was asked if he was Kevin Spacey Fowler.
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“Here I am,” he said as he stood behind a window at the docks.
Spacey, 63 years old, yes plead not guilty to dozens of crimes includes sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
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“I’m sure the defendant will be pleased to know that many of you will know his name or have seen his films,” Judge Mark Wall said as Spacey nodded and smiled at potential jurors. Talents were lined up between the court and more than two dozen journalists taking notes. .
The first 14 jurors, including two alternates, named took their seats without objections from either the prosecution or the defense. The remaining 13 are exempt.
The jurors wore a mix of business and casual wear. Two women in skirts and two men in suits and ties. A man in a black denim jacket and a bearded man in a bare-bones Superman t-shirt that extends across his belly.
Spacey stood with hands clasped behind his back as nine men and five women were sworn in as jurors to hear evidence in a case expected to last four weeks at Southwark Crown Court.
The opening statement is scheduled for Friday.
Spacey, who is out on free bail and has homes in London and the US, arrived at the courthouse by taxi with his manager, Evan Lowenstein, about two hours before the trial began. He smiled and waved as he passed photographers and videographers.
Spacey has said that an acquittal in the case could start a career that has been largely frozen since sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against the star who won the first Oscar for supporting actor in The usual suspect in 1995.
“There are people who are ready to hire me as soon as I clear these allegations in London,” Spacey said in a rare interview published this month in the German magazine. Zeit magazine. He said the media had turned him into a “monster”.
The charges involving the men, now in their 30s or 40s, date from 2001 to 2013 – covering most of the decade when he lived in the UK and served as artistic director of the Old Vic Theater for until 2015.
Spacey’s downfall comes amid the #MeToo movement in the US as allegations lead him to be removed from Netflix’s political thriller Dealerwhere he stars as Frank Underwood, a ruthless and corrupt congressman who becomes president.
He was cut from the finished movie All the money in the worldand scenes were re-shot with Christopher Plummer.
Spacey became one of the most popular actors of his generation in the 1990s, starring in films including Glengarry Glen Ross And secret LA.
He won his second Oscar, for best actor, in the 1999 film American beauty.
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Spacey recently landed her first film role in several years, appearing in 2022 in the film by Italian director Franco Nero. The man who drew Godand played the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in the biopic Once upon a time in Croatia. He also starred in the unreleased US film Peter Year Eight.
Italy’s National Museum of Cinema in Turin presented him with a lifetime achievement award in January. He also teaches an advanced class and recommends a sold-out show of American beauty Considered Spacey’s first talk in five years.
Spacey congratulated the organizers for his “strong defense of artistic achievement” and invited “le palle” – the Italian word for male body parts synonymous with courage – to invite him.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit their website. In the event of an emergency, call 000.
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