At one point, Kevin Spacey was one of Hollywood's most in-demand actors. He starred in classics like The Usual Suspects and Seven, and even portrayed Lex Luthor in 2006's Superman Returns. He then gained more mainstream popularity portraying Frank Underwood in House of Cards, which became one of Netflix's signature original series.
Things changed in 2017 when he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple people. In 2020, he faced a lawsuit from actor Anthony Rapp, which was ultimately dismissed. He also faced trial in the UK, where he was acquited in 2023. The actor was fired from House of Cards. He was also replaced by Christopher Plummer in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, which ended up earning Plummer an Oscar nomination Best Supporting Actor.
Since the allegations and the trials, the actor has worked on a few films, but overall has largely disappeared from the spotlight. Now, in an in-depth interview with The Telegraph—given on the day he was rehearsing to give a musical performance at a Cyprus nightclub—Spacey discussed his new situation, and the hopes he has to rebuild his career. Talking about his desire for a resurgence, Spacey claimed he and his team are in contact with "extremely powerful people" who intend to get him back into Hollywood:
"We are in touch with some extremely powerful people who want to put me back to work. And that will happen in its right time. But I will also say, what I think the industry seems to be waiting for is to be given permission—by someone who is in some position of enormous respect and authority."
Spacey then stated he lost his house due to having a lot of expenses and not enough income to cover them. He says, however, that his situation reminds him of when he was first starting out as an actor:
"[The] costs over these last seven years have been astronomical. I've had very little coming in and everything going out. [...] You get through it. In weird ways, I feel I'm back to where I first started, which is I just went where the work was. Everything is in storage, and I hope at some point, if things continue to improve, that I'll be able to decide where I want to settle down again."
The Superman Returns actor revealed he now lives in hotels and rentals, traveling to where he finds work: "I'm living in hotels, I'm living in Airbnbs, I'm going where the work is. I literally have no home, that's what I'm attempting to explain." Spacey was then asked what his financial situation was like, to which he replied, "Not great." He was then asked if he had been afraid of being bankrupt. He stated: "It was discussed, but it never got to that point."
Spacey had previously talked about facing foreclosure on his house during an interview with Piers Morgan in 2024. When Morgan asked him where he lived, Spacey responded:
"Well, it's funny you ask that question, because this week, where I have been living in Baltimore, is being foreclosed on. My house is being sold at auction, so I have to go back to Baltimore and put all my things in storage. So the answer to that question is, I'm not quite sure where I'm gonna live now. But I've been in Baltimore since we started shooting House of Cards there."
Speaking to The Telegraph, Spacey went on to compare his situation to that of Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo was a screenwriter in the 1930s to 1950s, who was blacklisted from the industry after he was accused of being a communist. Spacey brought up director and producer Otto Preminger (Mr. Freeze in the 1960s Batman TV series), who played a role in Trumbo returning to screenwriting openly, after having to do so under pseudonyms during his Hollywood exile:
"When he said, 'Dalton Trumbo's name is going on Spartacus, everyone around him said, 'You're crazy, you're going to get canceled. And Kirk Douglas said, 'You know what? We get to play the hero in movies, but it's not that simple in real life.' He was willing to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough.' The moment he did that, the blacklist was over."
With that, Spacey hopes that a powerful member of the industry will reach out so that he can re-enter mainstream Hollywood: "So, my feeling is, if Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino call [Evan Lowenstein, Spacey's manager] tomorrow, it will be over. I will be incredibly honored and delighted when that level of talent picks up the phone. [...] And I believe it's going to happen."