American actor Kevin Spacey accepted the lifetime achievement award from the Better World Fund, one of the organizations surrounding the Cannes Film Festival, with a furious speech in which he quoted his "friend" Elton John, saying, "I'm still standing."
The event marked one of the first orchestrated efforts to facilitate Spacey's return to Hollywood after years of battling multiple sexual harassment allegations in the courts and in the public eye.
This is Spacey's first time returning to Cannes since being legally exonerated, and while he didn't specifically address the cases, he did openly address the consequences for his career.
"Who would have thought that honoring someone who has been exonerated in every court he's ever been through could be considered a brave idea," he said in his acceptance speech.
He even went so far as to compare the organization's decision to that of actor Kirk Douglas, when he decided to support screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted in Hollywood last century.
"Kirk Douglas took a risk and then said it's easy for us actors to play heroes on screen. We fight bad guys and stand for what's right, but in real life, it's not so clear what to do," Spacey added.
Spacey's surprise appearance at the Cannes Film Festival was reportedly orchestrated by the producers of his new film, The Awakening , a British independent production about a sinister organization controlling the world. The American actor is the main villain in the production, described as a "conspiracy thriller."
The producers are looking for a distributor for the film at Cannes, and the pro-Spacey campaign is seeking to draw attention to her.
The Awakening is one of two films Kevin Spacey will appear in this year and the first major productions he's participated in since 2017. That year, accusations against him exploded. To date, 30 men have accused him of inappropriate behavior or sexual harassment. Two of these accusations reached court, one in the United States and one in England. The actor was found not guilty in both trials.
The other is the historical drama 1780.
