Guy Pearce says Kevin Spacey ‘targeted’ him

Guy Pearce, an Australian actor, sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter where he opened up about his experience while working with Kevin Spacey.

Explaining his decision to not call himself a victim, he said that “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.”

Admitting that he used to brush off his advances during L.A. Confidential, he added, “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 recalled telling his wife 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.

In 2017 during the #MeToo movement, an actor named Anthony Rapp came out and accused Spacey of making advances on him when he was 14. It was followed by a long list of accusations against the actor.

Describing the experience of seeing the reports, Pearce revealed, “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.”

“I just try to be more honest about it now and call it for what it is,” he said of the new strategy he implements these days.