Italy’s National Cinema Museum explains why it gave a platform to actor Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey got to speak publicly for the first time in five years after he was boycotted by the industry ever since being accused of sexual misconduct. It was in 2017 that these allegations surfaced, and since then he was removed from several projects that he was a part of.

This week, Italy’s National Cinema Museum in the northern Italian city of Turin honoured the Oscar-winning actor with a lifetime achievement award and a masterclass. The event obviously raised objections in the US and the UK where the actor will go on trial in June on 12 sexual assault charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

To everyone’s surprise, fans reached the venue in Italy and cheered for Kevin Spacey. The awards ceremony was followed by a screening of the actor’s 'American Beauty' which was a sold out.

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Earlier this week, Spacey was feted at a Torino football match.

Speaking to media regarding the felicitation, the museum director Domenico De Gaetano said the institution extended its invitation to Spacey after the actor was cleared last October by a New York jury in a $40M battery lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp.

“Kevin Spacey came to Turin last year to shoot a movie (Franco Nero’s The Man Who Drew God). He is a very kind person and more importantly, he is a fantastic actor. In Italy, we believe in the principle of the presumption of innocence. When the trial ended in New York and he was cleared, even if there were potentially other trials down the line, he was innocent.

"When the idea was floated of inviting him, I thought, ‘Why not?’ I was sure he would give a good masterclass. I knew there might be some pushback and controversy, but this didn’t concern me. I was interested in cinema and Spacey as an actor. His personal life, especially given the fact he had just been absolved, was not of interest to us,” he said.

“I think there is a different attitude in Europe from the U.S. You can’t just cancel a person or tar everyone with the same brush,” said De Gaetano.

The museum is housed in the vast atrium of Turin’s architectural landmark the Mole Antonelliana, where Kevin Spacey gave his masterclass.