Kevin Spacey is innocent. In fact, he was cleared of charges of sexual assault, indecent exposure and inducing a person to participate in sexual acts, which were brought against him and which abruptly stopped his career. Now many are wondering who will make up for lost time, those years of a career he had to give up, the years between overwhelming anticipation and disappointment. You can talk a lot about how justice works, about how certain processes are related to the media, before becoming legal, you can also think as you like about Kevin Spacey as a person who, deep down, we will never know. And the ink will definitely spill.
But we’re here to talk about the artistic side of things. At the time of the lockdown due to the allegations, Kevin Spacey was the star of one of the best series of recent years, trademarked by Netflix. House of cards (streamed by us on Sky, acquired before Netflix arrived in Italy) and created the anthology character, Frank Underwood. Her career was at its peak and stalled. It remains to be seen whether the aura of guilt will continue to weigh on him, even beyond the verdict, or whether rehabilitation is on a grand scale. Continuing to be on the artistic side, movies and TV shows still need a thoroughbred artist like Kevin Spacey. Not that it’s necessary, but to remind you who we’re talking about, here 10 unforgettable roles of Kevin Spacey.
1 The Suspects (Roger “Verbal” Kint)
The one or two that made us know and love Kevin Spacey in a few months leave no way out. Two cult films usual suspects AND Seven, and two directors on the rise, Bryan Singer and David Fincher. The Usual Suspects (1995) stars Kevin Spacey. This is a key witness in the interrogation that takes place after the ship explodes. Roger “Verbal” Kint is a petty crooksmall fishwho no one cares about is so called because he talks so much. And the police are relying on his story to reconstruct what happened and hunt down the formidable criminal Keyser Soze, whom no one has ever seen. Spacey’s performance, which succeeds fool everyone, the audience and the characters of the film. And the actor does a great job on the body, as well as on the voice.”The greatest trick the Devil ever played on the world was to convince everyone that he didn’t exist.It’s the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
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2. Seven (John Doe)
In David Fincher’s Seven (1995), Kevin Spacey plays John Doe, the man who kills according to the seven deadly sins, the killer everyone has been looking for for days. In a film that reimagined the thriller from color to story, even the unraveling of the mystery takes place in an unusual way. John Doe turns himself in, shows up at the police station, dressed in white and covered in blood because he just cut his fingers so he wouldn’t be fingerprinted. His face has an enlightened, almost blissful expression. He committed only five of the seven planned crimes. And, despite the fact that we were captured and fell into the hands of the police, we follow the last minutes of the film in a state of constant tension. Envy and anger are absent. Kevin Spacey offered to shave off his hair to play the character, and chose not to be credited, not appear in the opening credits, or participate in press activities so as not to spoil the impact his character’s appearance on stage would have created. The result has been seen.
3. American Beauty (Lester Burnham)
Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham is the protagonist and soul of Sam Mendes’ dazzling debut film American Beauty (1999). The protagonist is a classic man in a midlife crisis, invisible to his family, wife and daughter, who suddenly “awakensand the path of personal revenge begins. It all starts with a meeting with a girl cheerleader, a friend of her daughter, played by Mena Suvari. Kevin Spacey marks the film indelibly with his acting. Depraved, mellifluous, tongue-in-cheek, his depiction of the average American seeking revenge is unforgettable. Spacey was inspired by the moves”rough and clumsy» Walter Matthau, as well as Jack Lemmon in the apartment. In the story, his physique goes from flaccid to toned. For this reason, he practiced a lot. But since the film was not shot in chronological order, he had to work on his posture to make the changes less noticeable. It’s the Oscar for Best Actor.
4. K-PAX – From Another World (Prot)
Could an alien have disappeared from Kevin Spacey’s character gallery? A prot alien, or at least that’s what he says. In Ian Softley’s K-PAX (2001), Prot is locked up in a mental asylum in Manhattan because he claims to have come from K-PAX, a planet located in the constellation Lyra. The entire film plays out on the edge between reality and insanity. And few actors like Kevin Spacey can handle a movie like this where the character is constantly in balance. This movie didn’t do well either, but it shows us a different side of Spacey. More surreal, but theatrical and ambiguous as it can be. And stunning in those black sunglasses.
5. The life of David Gale
The Life of David Gale (2003) by Alan Parker is a reflection on the death penalty. David Gale, played by Kevin Spacey, is sentenced to death for the murder and rape of a woman and imprisoned in Texas. David Gale tells his story to a journalist (Kate Winslet) before being executed. Kevin Spacey plays a very different role than the others we’ve told you about. The killer, perhaps, but very different from the one played by David Fincher. Enter into the role even with such a look, unkempt hair, a beard for several days, as is natural for a prisoner. Once again, he manages to give face and body to an ambiguous and multifaceted character. But the film was not a success with critics and audiences.
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6 Superman Returns (Lex Luthor)
Admittedly, the film was not memorable at all, and this is where the story of Bryan Singer’s “Superman” with Brandon Routh ended. But Superman Returns (2006) is the return of Kevin Spacey with The Usual Suspects director. For a man who has been an anthology villain in many films, he couldn’t miss playing one of the most famous villains in comics, Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor. IN Superman Returns Luthor has managed to use Superman’s planet technology for his own sinister purposes, though he says he wants to pass it on to humanity, just like Prometheus did. Vain as Gene Hackman’s Lex, Spacey meaner. Mephistopheles and the Aspirant, Lex Luthor from Superman Returns it’s probably the best thing in the movie. Of course, if Superman’s enemy was Kaiser Soze…
7. Margin Call (Sam Richards)
In JC Chandor’s 2011 film Margin Call, Kevin Spacey plays Sam, a Wall Street banker in 2008, who struggles internally over whether to share the choice of his CEO, who is determined to sell off all of the company’s toxic assets to save it from bankruptcy. Sam knows that this choice could ruin millions of people and send the world markets drifting into one of the most dramatic financial crises of the century. Additional collateral requirement a kind of financial thriller: presented at the Berlin Film Festival, it made a splash because it spoke about the still open wound, the mortgage scandal and the financial crisis of 2008. Kevin Spacey prepares for House of cardswith a story of a character of strength and with a soul split in two.
8. House of Cards (Frank Underwood)
Frank Underwood is the role of Kevin Spacey that we all still hold in our eyes, played last. House of Cards (2013-2018) went down in the history of TV series in recent years. Frank Underwood is our host, Virgil, who guides us through the hellish circles of American politics. Kevin Spacey’s Frank immediately decides to make us accomplices: he breaks the fourth wall and speaks while looking into the camera, that is, he stops doing what he does in order to speak to us directly. He makes a pact: he wants to reveal something of value to us. But in return, he asks us to be accomplices. So, whether his deeds are good (almost never) or bad (almost always), we have now entered his circle, we hang on his lips. And we never leave it. Kevin Spacey is perfect: his determined and lustful face, his anonymous and unathletic physique make him the perfect interpreter for a multifaceted character, unfaithful but in love with his wife, tombeur des femmes, but bisexual at the same time. We couldn’t imagine Frank with a different face. The accusations have ceased House of cards in the best possible way, forcing the creators to spend the last season without him. If you could come back…
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9. Elvis and Nixon (Richard Nixon)
He was full House of cards, with Frank Underwood’s character still in shambles, Kevin Spacey plays another controversial President of the United States. This time it’s real and it’s Richard Nixon. Elvis & Nixon (2016) tells an incredible but true fact: on the morning of December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley went to the White House to request an urgent meeting with US President Richard Nixon, asking him to be appointed as an undercover federal drug agent. . Spacey creates his own version of Nixon, focusing little on physical resemblance and more on personality. Again, he’s perfect for the role.
10. Baby on the drive (Doc)
One of the last times we saw Kevin Spacey on the big screen was in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, starring Ansel Elgort as Baby, a young driver who trusts his driving talent to criminals forced to work for Doc. brilliant and ruthless criminal mastermind. who is planning the robbery. Doc is Kevin Spacey, casually playing the classic gangster movie villain, the deus ex machina, who moves all the action figures in the game as if they were puppets. A clearly one-dimensional character who turns out surprisingly when he helps Baby and his girlfriend. Because he was also in love in the past.