The first time I ever saw Guy Pearce in anything was LA Confidential. That used to be one of my favorite movies, although it’s difficult to get through these days because of what we know about Kevin Spacey. In 2017, Anthony Rapp was the first person to tell his story publicly about Spacey, and it turned out that Spacey had been preying on men and boys for decades, with many of them coming forward or going to the authorities. Several of Spacey’s former costars came forward, like Gabriel Byrne, and said that Spacey assaulted people on various film shoots. Guy Pearce also indicated in one interview that Spacey was “very handsy” with him on LA Confidential. Pearce hasn’t wanted to talk about it much more than that, until now. He spoke to THR’s Awards Chatter podcast, and went into much more detail about what happened during the filming of LA Confidential.
An emotional and reflective Guy Pearce got choked up during a new interview while recalling unpleasant experiences working with Kevin Spacey on Curtis Hanson’s classic 1997 film L.A. Confidential and the “wake-up call” that left him sobbing in London more than 20 years later when he realized the impact those encounters had on him.
Pearce talked about it only briefly when he called Spacey “a handsy guy” to Australian talk show host Andrew Denton in 2018, though he quickly clarified his comments. “I very much understand that it’s too sensitive a topic to be brushed off. Although I wasn’t sexually assaulted or molested, I was made to feel uncomfortable,” he said in a follow-up statement. “I addressed and handled the situation when it took place, hence my regret at making it public now.”
Pearce is far more open today, but still choosing his words carefully. Pearce noted how he was reluctant to use the word victim “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.”
That said, Pearce responded to Spacey’s alleged advances on the set of L.A. Confidential by brushing it off and thinking, “Ah, that’s nothing. Ah, no, that’s nothing,” he said. “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.”
While [Pearce] remains on good terms with fellow Aussie Russell Crowe, “a great mate of mine,” the same can’t be said of Spacey. While filming on location in Los Angeles, Pearce was in town with his then-wife Kate. He recalled telling her that “the only days I feel safe are the days when [Simon Baker] is on set because I’m dumped like a hot potato, and [Kevin] focuses on [Simon] because he was ten times prettier than I am.”
Pearce said he caught the headlines [when Rapp came forward]. “I was in London working on something, and I heard [the reports] 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,” he explained, his voice breaking with emotion at one point.
Though he didn’t specify the date or the details of what occurred, Pearce noted that he has since “had a couple of confrontations with Kevin” that “got ugly.” Looking back on the talk show reveal, Pearce said he found himself in the “weird position” of not wanting to focus on his personal experience with Spacey yet, “I don’t want him to get away with what he gets away with.” Now, he’s got a new strategy for it. “I just try to be more honest about it now and call it for what it is.”
I can’t imagine what that was like as a young man from Australia, working in his first-ever Hollywood production, and working nearly every day with an Oscar-winner who was sexually harassing him and groping him. This was in the 1990s too, few people framed these issues as “a powerful predator sexually harassing a younger man.” People just talked about it like “oh, he was a bit handsy, no biggie, I could handle it.” Sometimes, I’m really amazed at how far we’ve come in 30 years just with being able to properly identify and discuss abuse, harassment and predatory behavior. I’m glad Guy is talking about it.
Update: Spacey ended up responding to Pearce’s story – Spacey told Guy to “grow up” and said that Guy is not a victim. Spacey remains one of the worst f–king people out there.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
