- Guy Pearce said Kevin Spacey “targeted” him on the set of “L.A. Confidential” in 1996.
- The actor said he brushed off advances from Spacey.
- When Spacey was accused of sexual assault in 2017, Pearce said he “broke down.”
Guy Pearce said that Kevin Spacey sexually harassed him in 1996 on the set of the neo-noir thriller, “L.A. Confidential.” Pearce said he ignored his advances, but “broke down” when Spacey was accused of sexual assault in 2017.
“L.A. Confidential” tells the story of three police officers, played by Pearce, Spacey, and Russell Crowe, who investigate corruption and murder in 1950s Los Angeles.
Pearce, who stars in this year’s Oscar-nominated movie “The Brutalist,” recalled working with Spacey on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast. Pearce said he considers himself a victim, but added “I was certainly not a victim by any means to the extent that other people have been to sexual predators.”
He said he tried to ignore advances Spacey made toward him during production, without going into further detail.
Pearce said: “I did that thing where you go: ‘Ah, that’s nothing. Ah, no, that’s nothing.’ I did that for five months, and really I was sort of scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man.
“He’s extremely charming and brilliant at what he does, really impressive, etc. He holds a room remarkably. But I was young and susceptible, and he targeted me, no question.”
He added: “I had a couple of confrontations with Kevin post-that, that got ugly.” Pearce didn’t specify what happened, when these alleged interactions were or their outcome.
In 2017, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of sexually assaulting him at a party in 1986, when he was 14 years old.
Recalling hearing the news, Pearce said: “I was in London working on something, and I heard this and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn’t stop.
“I think it really dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had either shelved it or blocked it out or whatever. That was a really incredible wake-up call I suppose.”
Rapp sued Spacey in October 2022, but a jury found him not liable after a civil trial in New York.
Rapp’s allegations were followed by others against Spacey, from men who worked in the film industry and at the Old Vic Theater in London, where Spacey was the artistic director from 2004 to 2015.
Representatives for Spacey did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
In 2024, Spacey responded to a documentary about the allegations: “I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions. But I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me.”
