Kevin Spacey to star in movie for the first time since accused of sexual misconduct

(CNN) – Kevin Spacey will star in his first movie since he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017.

CNN confirmed that the actor will play a detective in an upcoming Italian film called “L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio.” The film is directed by and also stars Franco Nero. It will also star Nero’s wife, Vanessa Redgrave.

“I chose him because he is a great actor,” Louis Nero, the film’s producer, told CNN in a telephone interview Monday.

When asked about the allegations made against Kevin Spacey, Nero said he believes it is “false.”

Spacey was heavily criticized in 2017 after Anthony Rapp told BuzzFeed News that the actor made sexual advances toward him in 1986, when Rapp, also an actor, was 14 years old.

That same year, CNN reported that Kevin Spacey turned the set of Netflix’s “House of Cards” into a “toxic” work environment through a pattern of sexual harassment, based on interviews with eight people who worked on the program at that time or that they had done in the past.

Netflix subsequently fired him and Sony hired another actor to reprise his role in the film. “All The Money in the World”. Spacey never commented on the assault allegations, but did apologize for making unwelcome sexual advances toward Rapp.

In 2017, he said: “Honestly, I don’t remember the meeting, it would be more than 30 years ago.”

“But if I behaved as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”

Nero told CNN that while the movie will be in Italian, the Kevin Spacey part will be in English.

They are currently filming and the movie will be released early next year.

CNN has reached out to Kevin Spacey’s attorneys for comment.