LOS ANGELES: Watching 'House of Cards' actor Kevin Spacey portray a suburban dad fixated on a teenage cheerleader in 'American Beauty' was both terrifying and comforting for Anthony Rapp.
According to "Variety," it served as a distressing reminder of his own tragic encounter with the Oscar-winning actor. In his $40 million civil case, Rapp claims that Spacey initiated unwanted sexual approaches when he was 26 and Rapp was 14. The two men are currently engaged in a judicial battle over this claim.
Rapp described seeing Spacey as Lester Burnham sexing his daughter's best friend, who is in high school, as "uncomfortably familiar" when testifying in New York City on Tuesday (Pacific Standard Time).
'American Beauty' was Spacey's last movie he viewed, according to 'Variety'. Rapp claims that his alleged run-in with Spacey occurred in 1986. Despite this, he claims that he continued to watch the actor's movies because "they were by and large quite renowned" and "thought it was my obligation to do so." In other work-related settings, their paths converged. The encounter took place in the lunchroom of a building where the men were filming a project in 1993.
They "locked eye contact" when they ran into each other in the restroom in the foyer at the 1999 Tony Awards. According to "Variety," Spacey's attorneys have maintained that Rapp made up the accusations against the actor out of jealously. They assert that the openly gay actor, who made appearances in "Star Trek: Discovery" and the original Broadway version of "Rent," was disgruntled that his decision to come out of the closet had curtailed his career opportunities.
In his testimony, Rapp disputed that claim, claiming that he never connected being outwardly gay with any "dry spell" in his career. He claimed that while "working very, very steadily," he told numerous individuals about the Spacey event. In 2017, Rapp brought forth claims of sexual misconduct against Spacey.
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