Kevin Spacey Q&A

04 September 2008

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For the past five years Kevin Spacey’s main focus has been his role as artistic director at the Old Vic Theatre in London.

His productions have included The Philadelphia Story, Richard II and the recent Speed-The- Plow and he has also developed the Old Vic’s education and community work. That said, Spacey’s theatre work has not overshadowed an impressive movie career which includes starring roles in films as diverse as Se7en, American Beauty, and Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil.

He has been nominated for numerous awards and has so far won two Academy Awards for his roles in The Usual Suspects and American Beauty.

In 21 Spacey stars as Micky Rosa, the college professor who introduces his students to Las Vegas, the world of card-counting and high stakes gambling.

Have you been surprised at maintaining a presence in American films while running London’s Old Vic theatre?

No, it was always my hope that I could maintain it. I suspected that when I started at the Old Vic that my focus would have to really shift.

As much preparation as I did, as much research as I did about previous artistic directors and their roles, and as many conversations as I had with friends of mine who had been artistic directors, I really didn’t know until I was in the middle of it just how much the job required, and what a really day-to-day job it was.

I’m involved in every single aspect of the company, but as we’ve gone on and as we’ve grown it’s been much easier for me to delegate because I now have an incredible staff.

And I suppose that for me, when I look at this year, I made three movies last year. Even if the Old Vic didn’t exist that’s a lot of movies to do in one year. I think certainly for the first two years I really was focussing a lot, other than having shot Superman for six weeks, I was completely dedicated to the Vic.

So the balancing act is trying to keep one foot in the film world but my first priority and my focus continues to be the Old Vic.

Why do you need to do films, is it because you love them?

Because I think to disappear entirely from films would be stupid. If it weren’t for films I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing at the Old Vic, that’s for sure. But I also know if it weren’t for theatre I wouldn’t have had a film career. So I kind of feel like they complement each other.

Although I do more producing in films than I do acting in films that’s just really a measure of availability and time.

There are movies that come along sometimes that I’m offered that I just can’t do because I’ve already committed or we’ve already sold tickets to a production we’re doing that I’m in. Once I make a decision to do a play I’m not going to change that, no matter what.

Is 21 the kind of film you would have sought out, an old fashioned caper movie?

Yeah, definitely. It’s also got that Risky Business quality to it that I thought about when I first read that story, about 15 years ago, these rumours out of Boston from some friends that this thing was maybe going on.

There’s just something about what it’s like when young people fall into making astronomical amounts of money in an unconventional way. And the potential of the greed and corruption, and the seduction that’s thrown at them.

It’s about how they respond to it, and at the end of the day what decisions they’re going to make and what kind of people they’re going to be in the end. That’s also the terrain that writer Ben Mezrich seems quite fascinated with; young men making a lot of money and what does it do to them.

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