Kevin Spacey is plotting his comeback – but where has he been all this time?

In August 2019, visitors to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome were surprised by disgraced actor Kevin Spacey reciting Tinti poem The Boxer while standing next to sculpture Boxer at Rest. The poem included pointed lines like “The more you’re wounded the greater you are” and “Fools! You couldn’t imagine that I would be resuscitated.”

And that wasn’t the end of his European adventures. He popped up in Seville that year, too, joining street band Tuna de Derecho de Sevilla at 2am, singing and playing a borrowed guitar as they performed La Bamba and the Beatles’ Twist and Shout.

Now, like the Terminator of cancel culture, Kevin Spacey is back on the big screen. In a bizarrely tone-deaf move, Italian director Franco Nero (who is married to Vanessa Redgrave) has cast the disgraced Hollywood star in his upcoming film The Man Who Drew God. Worse, Spacey will play a detective investigating a man accused of sexual abuse - revoltingly, trading off his own notoriety.

The movie, which Nero has said is based on a true story, is about a blind artist who can draw anyone’s face perfectly just by hearing their voice. The artist becomes famous after appearing on a TV talent show, but is then wrongfully accused of sexually abusing a child. The film halted production due to Covid, and is now due to resume shooting.

It’s an extraordinary choice of comeback from Spacey, whose last release Billionaire Boys Club, in 2018, was rightfully shunned by cinema audiences. He was also written out of TV show House of Cards and replaced by Christopher Plummer in the movie All the Money in the World.

That “cancellation” was the result of serious accusations made against Spacey. In October 2017, actor Anthony Rapp told Buzzfeed that Spacey had climbed on top of him while he was in bed and made sexual advances; Rapp was just 14 at the time. Rapp subsequently filed a lawsuit, along with another man, known as C.D. - the latter claimed that Spacey had repeatedly sexually assaulted him when he, too, was 14.

Spacey initially responded that he didn’t remember the incident Rapp referred to, but apologised for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour.” However, he then conflated the issue with his coming out, saying that he had had “romantic encounters with men throughout my life”. This was seen by many as a way of changing the conversation - while causing harm to the LGBTQ community by linking homosexuality with the alleged sexual abuse of a minor.

It certainly didn’t help Spacey’s case. More alleged victims came forward with accusations, and the arts world promptly disowned him. The Emmys rescinded plans to honour him with a special award, talent agency Creative Artists Agency and streamer Netflix dropped him, and London’s Old Vic theatre - which Spacey had run from 2004-2014 - was forced to respond to claims of alleged sexual misconduct. Surely, this was the end for the once-feted, Oscar-winning A-lister.

And yet Spacey wasn’t interested in going away quietly. On Christmas Eve 2018, he released the first of a series of queasy videos in the guise of Frank Underwood from House of Cards (even though his character had by then been killed off in the Netflix series).

In the three-minute YouTube video, entitled Let Me Be Frank, Spacey (wearing an incongruously cheery Santa apron) said: “You trusted me even though you knew you shouldn’t. So we’re not done no matter what anyone says. Besides, I know what you want - you want me back.” He continued: “But you wouldn’t believe the worst without evidence, would you? You wouldn’t rush to judgement without facts, would you?”, and then added “They’re going to say I’m being disrespectful, not playing by the rules, like I ever played by anyone’s rules before. I never did and you loved it.”

The monologue appeared to directly challenge the allegations made against him and, more widely, the #MeToo movement. It was sharply criticised by many, including actress Ellen Barkin, who said that Spacey was “sending a very disturbing message as he chastises his audience.” She characterised his video as “if you hypocrites loved me as a murderer, why won’t you love me as a sex offender?”, and answered that with “Maybe because Frank Underwood’s crimes are fiction and Kevin Spacey’s are not.”

But Spacey doubled down on the sinister Yuletide strategy, releasing another video on Christmas Eve 2019, KTWK (meaning “kill them with kindness”), and a third in 2020, 1-800 XMAS. Even more bizarrely, the latter was all about offering solace to those who were struggling and possibly feeling suicidal - but no mention of the fact that author Ari Behn, one of Spacey’s accusers, had taken his own life.

Another glimpse of Spacey’s solipsistic attempts at image rehab came from the German business conference Bits & Pretzels, which he addressed in May last year. The actor compared the devastating job losses as a result of the pandemic to his own situation, saying that “while we may have found ourselves in similar situations albeit for very different reasons, I still feel that some of the emotional struggles are very much the same”, adding “it’s a situation you have absolutely no control over.”

Is someone actually advising him on any of this bonkers strategy? The Hollywood Reporter cites a source formerly close to Spacey, who says that the actor is living in seclusion with his manager Evan Lowenstein (once part of a boyband duo Evan and Jaron with his identical twin), and that Lowenstein was responsible for the horrendous Christmas videos, among other things.

Spacey’s exact location is up for debate, however. One source claims he’s living at his London home near the Old Vic, while others - going off the palm trees in his latest video - say he’s in Florida or LA. He’s also funding an art and antique shop in Boston, and is apparently keen to write a book under a pseudonym.

The London claim seems most likely, since Spacey has been spotted in the capital several times in 2020. He was seen walking his dog in St James’s Park in May, where he spoke to a sunbathing couple, and then also photographed cycling in north London in September - and, oddly, wearing a wedding ring, although it’s not known that he’s been in a relationship with anyone.

Spacey owns a ￡2.3 million apartment in Waterloo. It has views of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, and the actor sought special permission to install a stage door from the Old Vic as his flat’s front door. A neighbour told the Mail that Spacey had “pretty wild parties” there, attended mostly by young men “aged 18 or 19.” Is this now his hideout?

Or perhaps just a base. Most disturbingly, one source claims that the mandatory Covid mask wearing has allowed Spacey to disguise himself (along with a hat and sunglasses) and roam around in public.

However, Spacey isn’t entirely at liberty: he’s still tied up in legal proceedings. Former employer Media Rights Capital (which produces House of Cards) is seeking a reported seven-figure sum in damages, following the allegations made against Spacey, while Spacey has lodged a counterclaim, stating that MRC actually owes him money and that reports of his sexual misconduct have been exaggerated.

During a legal deposition in 2020, Spacey actually burst into song and dance. Maybe he's hoping to return to Broadway as lawyer Billy Flynn in Chicago - a role he was apparently considered for in the movie adaptation.

Additionally, the British Crown Prosecution Service is deciding whether or not to bring charges against Spacey, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police of multiple sexual assault claims from 1996-2013. That’s on top of the lawsuit brought by Rapp and C.D.

Does Spacey really think he’s done his time in the wilderness, and that he can start to rebuild his Hollywood career - while still doing battle in the courts?

In fairness, fellow actor Aziz Ansari, who was accused of sexual misconduct in 2018, has just returned with a new season of his show Master of None. However, the circumstances are very different: Ansari apologised to the woman in question, and it opened a discussion about the importance of affirmative consent.

Spacey, in contrast, has never expressed any remorse or admitted responsibility for an alleged stream of sexual misconduct - including serious assault of a minor. Whether or not he adopts his Frank Underwood drawl, surely he won’t be placed in such a position of power again.