Kevin Spacey is set to be honored with a trophy for a voice role in the 2023 U.K. action thriller Control by the Folkestone Independent Film Awards on July 20.
On Monday, organizers of the British indie film awards confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the House of Cards star is set to win a best performance trophy for his role in Control. The British action thriller, written and directed by Gene Fallaize, did not have Spacey on screen, but rather the two-time Oscar winner instead had a voice role with a menacing presence in the film.
The British indie film awards event also touted Spacey’s performance and award on its Instagram and Facebook pages. The producers of Control cast Spacey in late 2022 as he awaited his London criminal trial over multiple counts of sexual assault. The British legal proceeding ended with the embattled Hollywood actor cleared of all charges.
Control represents one of a handful of movie roles that Spacey hopes will get him back to Hollywood and the heights of his former career before allegations first surfaced in 2017. The action thriller follows the British home secretary (Lauren Metcalfe) as she drives home one night while engaging in a secret love affair with the prime minister (Mark Hampton).
Meanwhile, another man — voiced by Spacey — knows her secret and has been badly affected by it and seeks revenge, plotting to remotely hijack her fully self-driving car and forcing her on a rampage through the streets of London using the car she’s trapped in as a deadly weapon, according to a film synopsis from the producers.
The Folkestone Independent Film Awards organizers did not indicate whether Spacey will attend their July 20 awards show to pick up his trophy. On July 21, Spacey is set to be honored with Italy’s Nations Award for Lifetime Achievement at a special gala in the historic southern Sicilian town of Taormina. The award is organized under the patronage of the Italian Senate and the state of Sicily.
The latest honors for Spacey come as The Usual Suspects and American Beauty star continues to battle multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him. While denying all criminal charges against him, Spacey recently saw a Channel 4 documentary, Spacey Unmasked, resurface allegations against him around alleged historical abuse. The actor fired back, denying the new allegations, saying he “would no longer be speechless.”
Variety was the first to report on the Folkestone Independent Film Awards set to hand Spacey a performance trophy.
