In a London court on Thursday, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey entered a not guilty plea to four counts of sexual assault and one count of inciting another person to engage in penetrative sexual behavior without consent, according to the British news agency PA Media.
In June, the “House of Cards” actor, 62, who showed up at the Old Bailey dressed in a blue suit and tie, was formally charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men and a fifth count of inciting another person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram asked Spacey for his name, birthdate, and London address during his last court appearance on June 16. He also read the charges against Spacey to the court.
He is accused of committing two counts of sexual assault against a man in London in 2005, a third count of sexual assault against another man in London in 2008, and a fourth count of sexual assault against a guy in Gloucestershire, western England, in 2013. Regarding non-consensual penetrative action, the 2013 occurrence is also a factor in the fifth accusation.
Judge Mr. Justice Wall set a three- to four-week trial beginning on June 6, 2023 during the hearing on Thursday.
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For his roles in “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty,” Spacey has received two Academy Awards. From 2003 to 2015, he served as artistic director of London’s Old Vic theater.
Additionally, he recently made a comeback as an actor and participated in the Netflix political drama “House of Cards.”
Following his sexual assault prosecution in the U.K., Kevin Spacey will no longer be playing the lead in the Genghis Khan movie being pitched in Cannes, Variety reported.
The actor was slated to play the lead role in “1242: Gateway to the West,” a historical drama that was being shopped at the Cannes film market and centers on a Hungarian castle’s holy man who attempts to thwart Genghis Khan’s army from entering Europe. To play the holy man, Spacey was cast.
The English-language “Gateway to the West,” which will be directed by Péter Soós, will film for two months starting on October 17 and will have a budget of between $10 and $25 million. Eric Roberts and Christopher Lambert also appear in the film, which is sponsored by the National Film Institute of Hungary, Foresight Media, and LipSync.
However, after the former “House of Cards” actor was accused of four counts of sexual assault in the U.K., the film’s producer, Bill Chamberlain, tells Variety that Spacey has been replaced as the lead. A new lead, whose identity will be announced later, is presently the subject of negotiations.