Guy Pearce says he feared Kevin Spacey during the making of the 1997 Warner Bros. film “L.A. Confidential,” and only realized after the actor’s public downfall that he’d been one of his targets.
Pearce said it took him a while to realize the Spacey was preying on him, and that he initially dismissed his experience and how it affected him mentally and emotionally.
“Even though I probably was a victim to a degree, I was certainly not a victim by any means to the extent that other people have been to sexual predators,” Pearce said during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“But I did that thing that you do where you brush it off and go, ‘Ah, that’s nothing. Ah, no, that’s nothing.’ And I did that for five months,” Pearce continued. 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.”
The only times Pearce said he felt “safe” on set was when Spacey set his sights on their costar, Simon Baker. After allegations of sexual misconduct against Spacey arose in 2017, Pearce said he confronted the veteran actor, noting some incidents “got ugly.” And at one point, Pearce said he had an emotional breakdown after reflecting on his encounters with Spacey.
“I heard these stories about Kevin, sort of officially as news stories,” Pearce said. I was in London working on something, and I heard [the allegations ] and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn’t stop. I think it really sort of dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had sort of either shelved it or blocked it out, or whatever. That was a really incredible wake-up call.”
This isn’t the first time Pearce opened up about allegedly experiencing sexual advances from Spacey. Back in 2018, Pearce suggested Spacey inappropriately touched him while the two were filming together on “L.A. Confidential,” calling the Oscar-winning actor a “handsy guy.”
“Yeah… yeah. Tough one to talk about at the moment. Amazing actor; incredible actor. Mmm. Slightly difficult time with Kevin, yeah. He’s a handsy guy,” Pearce told TV host Andrew Denton at the time. “Thankfully I was 29 and not 14,” Pearce said, referring to allegations made by actor Anthony Rapp. In 2017, Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances toward him when he was 14. Rapp, who first came out about the alleged abuse in Buzzfeed article, claimed that a drunk Spacey attempted to have sex with him at a party at Spacey’s apartment in 1986.
Ultimately, the two faced off in a civil trial in 2022. Spacey was found not liable.
