NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Kevin Spacey's lawyer told a jury Thursday that a sexual misconduct allegation that derailed his theatrical career was the product of a young actor's inability to tell the difference between real life and a scene he played on Broadway eight times a week.
Jurors in a New York courtroom heard opening statements in what is expected to be a two-week trial in a brought by Anthony Rapp, the actor who in 2017 became the first in a string of people to publicly accuse the 鈥淗ouse of Cards鈥� star of inappropriate touching or sexual advances.
The lawsuit stems from an alleged encounter between the two men in 1986, when Rapp was a 14-year-old getting praise for a role in the play 鈥淧recious Sons鈥� and Spacey, then 26, was having his own breakout moment on Broadway as the co-star of 鈥淟ong Day's Journey Into Night.鈥�
Rapp says the older actor invited him to a party at his Manhattan apartment, then tried to seduce him in a bedroom after the other guests had left.
In interviews and the lawsuit, he has said a drunk, swaying Spacey swept him up in his arms, like a groom carrying a bride, then laid him on a bed and climbed on top of him. Rapp said he quickly wriggled away and left, then kept quiet about what happened for three decades as both actors saw their careers take off.
In her opening statement to the jury, Spacey's lawyer, Jennifer Keller, noted that the incident Rapp described bore a close resemblance to a scene in 鈥淧recious Sons.鈥� In the scene, an inebriated father, played by Ed Harris, mistook his son, played by Rapp, for his wife and climbed on top of him. In another scene, Harris lifted Rapp in his arms.
鈥淗ow did Mr. Rapp come up with such an inventive and original story?" Keller asked the jury. 鈥淓ight times each week, actor Ed Harris picked up Mr. Rapp like a groom picks up a bride.鈥�
鈥淲hat does Mr. Rapp claim? Mr. Spacey falls on him drunkenly. No kissing. No grinding. No touching of his genitals. No request to touch his genitals. Nothing, just like in the play," she said.
Rapp鈥檚 lawyer, Peter Saghir, said the encounter between the actors was real and that Spacey tried to "gratify his sexual desire鈥� by pressing his pelvis into Rapp's hips when they were on the bed.
鈥淭his was a deliberate act,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is not horseplay.鈥�
When Rapp in 2017 as the began to grip Hollywood, he addressed the similarity with the scene in 鈥淧recious Sons,鈥� saying that perhaps he was initially able to set aside the trauma of his encounter with Spacey because he was 鈥渨eirdly accustomed to the action, because it had been happening in the play.鈥�
Spacey 鈥淏ut if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,鈥� he said.
Since then, though, Spacey's legal team has said the accusation is false. Rapp never attended the party, they said. And even if it had happened as Rapp described, they have argued, it wouldn't constitute a sexual advance.
Rapp wants compensation for mental and emotional suffering, medical expenses and loss of work.
Keller said Spacey was looking forward to testifying at the trial.
鈥淗e wants justice,鈥� she said. 鈥淥nce you've heard both sides, you'll be convinced this alleged assault never happened at all.鈥�
The trial comes at a fraught time for Spacey, now 63.
Three months ago, he pleaded not guilty in London to charges that he sexually assaulted three men between 2004 and 2015 when he was the artistic director at the Old Vic theater.
A judge in Los Angeles this summer approved to order Spacey to pay $30.9 million to the makers of 鈥淗ouse of Cards鈥� for violating his contract by sexually harassing crew members.
Those setbacks followed some victories for Spacey, who has recently been acting in films again.
In 2019, prosecutors in Massachusetts dropped indecent assault and battery charges filed after a man said Spacey groped him at a Nantucket bar. Spacey said he was innocent. His accuser also dropped a civil lawsuit.
Spacey won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in 鈥淎merican Beauty,鈥� a 1999 film in which he played a frustrated suburban father who lusts after his teenage daughter鈥檚 best friend.
Rapp, who as a teenager acted in films including 鈥淎dventures in Babysitting,鈥� was part of the original Broadway cast of 鈥淩ent," and is now a regular on 鈥淪tar Trek: Discovery鈥� on television. He is also expected to testify at the trial.
Other witnesses will include a psychologist who believes Rapp experiences post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the encounter with Spacey.
Larry Neumeister And Tom Hays, The Associated Press
