Italian film museum honours Kevin Spacey with lifetime achievement award: 'Consider myself extremely lucky'
Actor Kevin Spacey, attending his first public event since he plead not guilty to multiple sexual misconduct charges in the UK, was honoured with the Stella della Mole Award for lifetime achievement at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, Italy on Monday.
Kevin Spacey was the recipient of the Stella della Mole Award for lifetime achievement in Italy. On Monday, the actor was invited by the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, Italy to pick up the award and later attended a masterclass with the museum director on his life and career. He was attending his first public event since he pled not guilty to multiple sexual misconduct charges in London, England last week. The offences reportedly took place between 2001 and 2005. (Also read: Kevin Spacey wins $40 million New York sexual assault civil lawsuit)
Museum president Enzo Ghigo and Undersecretary to the Italian Ministry of Culture Vittorio Sgarbi presented the Oscar winner with the award. According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, the undersecretary stated, "Tonight we’re witnessing Kevin Spacey’s comeback. The one living through cinema is an immortal man, and it is precisely him that we are awarding this prize to tonight.” The actor thanked the museum for having "the balls" to invite him for the event.
Later, Kevin also took part in a masterclass with museum director Domenico De Gaetano at Turin's Mole Antonelliana where he discussed his career. He shared, "Tonight I consider myself extremely lucky. I’ve been doing this job for over 40 years, and I’ve only ever received kindness and support from my fans and coworkers. And I am honored to be part of this process.”
His Oscar-winning performance in American Beauty (1999) was screened after the masterclass. Kevin thanked his manager Evan Lowenstein for being with him through all his troubles. He revealed that it was due to him that he “realized I had to take all the setbacks and mistakes I made and get back on my feet, move on.”
The actor's legal woes were not brought up at the event. Besides his recent court case in the UK, the 63-year-old actor was found not liable in October 2022 for another sexual misconduct case in the US which involved actor Anthony Rapp as a teenager. He is out on unconditional bail until the UK trial continues later this year.
After the actor was accused of sexual misconduct by several individuals in 2017 including Anthony, he was removed from last season of Netflix's House of Cards and his role in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World (2017) was recast with actor Christopher Plummer instead.
