Kevin Spacey: preference

Transcript context

…The following is a conversation with Kevin Spacey, a two-time Oscar-winning actor, who has starred in Se7en, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, and House of Cards. He is one of the greatest actors ever, creating haunting performances of characters who often embody the dark side of human nature. Seven years ago, he was cut from House of Cards, and canceled by Hollywood and the world, when Anthony Rapp made an allegation that Kevin Spacey sexually abused him in 1986. Anthony Rapp then filed a civil lawsuit seeking $40 million. In this trial and all civil and criminal trials that followed, Kevin was acquitted. He has never been found guilty nor liable in the court of law. In this conversation, Kevin makes clear what he did and what he didn’t do. I also encourage you to listen to Kevin’s Dan Wooten and Alison Pearson interviews, for additional details and responses to the allegations. As an aside, let me say that one of the principles I operate under for this podcast and in life is that I will talk with everyone with empathy and with backbone. For each guest, I hope to explore their life’s work, life’s story, and what and how they think, and do so honestly and fully, the good, the bad, and the ugly, the brilliance and the flaws. I won’t whitewash their sins, but I won’t reduce them to a worse possible caricature of their sins either. The latter is what the mass hysteria of internet mobs too often does, often rushing to a final judgment before the facts are in. I will try to do better than that, to respect due process in service of the truth, and I hope to have the courage to always think independently and to speak honestly from the heart, even when the eyes of the outraged mob are on me. Again, my goal is to understand human beings at their best and at their worst, and the hope is such understanding leads to more compassion and wisdom in the world. I will make mistakes, and when I do, I will work hard to improve. I love you all. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description, and now, dear friends, here’s Kevin Spacey. You played a serial killer in the movie, Se7en. Your performance was one of, if not the greatest, portrayal of a murderer on screen ever. What was your process of becoming him, John Doe, the serial killer. The truth is, I didn’t get the part. I had been in Los Angeles making a couple of films, Swimming With Sharks and Usual Suspects, and then I did a film called Outbreak, that Morgan Freeman was in, and I went to audition for David Fincher, in probably late November of ’94. And I auditioned for this part, and didn’t get it, and I went back to New York, and I think they started shooting like December 12th. And I’m in New York, I’m back in my … I have a wonderful apartment on West 12th Street, and my mom has come to visit for Christmas, and it’s December 23rd, and it’s like seven o’clock at night, and my phone rings, and it’s Arnold Kopelson, who’s the producer of Se7en, and he’s very jovial and he’s very friendly, and he says, “How are you doing?” And I said, “Fine,” and he said, “Listen, do you remember that film you came in for, Se7en?” And I said, “Yeah, yeah, absolutely.” He goes, “Well, turns out that we hired an actor and we started shooting, and then yesterday David fired him, and David would like you to get on a plane on Sunday, and come to Los Angeles and start shooting on Tuesday.” And I was like, “Okay. Would it be imposing to say, can I read it again? Because it’s been a while now, and I’d like to.” So they sent a script over. I read the script that night. I thought about it, and I had this feeling, I can’t even quite describe it, but I had this feeling that it would be really good if I didn’t take billing in the film, and the reason I felt that was because I knew that by the time this film would come out, it would be the last one of the three movies that I’d just shot, the fourth one. And if any of those films broke through or did well, if it was going to be Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey, and you don’t show up for the first 25, 30, 40 minutes, people are going to figure out who you’re playing. So people didn’t know that you play the serial killer in the movie, and the serial killer shows up more than halfway through the movie.…

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