Kevin Spacey has responded to Guy Pearce’s allegation that the actor “targeted him” during the filming of LA Confidential, telling Pearce to “grow up” and “you are not a victim”.

On Monday, Pearce expanded further on his alleged experiences with Spacey, having previously called him “a handsy guy” in 2018. Spacey, who has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, has conceded he made some “clumsy” approaches to men in the past, but never anything illegal.

Pearce told the Hollywood Reporter that Spacey “targeted me, no question” while they made the 1997 film LA Confidential. He said that he told his then wife that he felt safe on set when his co-star Simon Baker was present, because Spacey focused on Baker instead.

“But I did that thing that you do where you brush it off and go, ‘Ah, that’s nothing. Ah, no, that’s nothing.’ And I did that for five months. And, really, I was sort of scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man. He’s extremely charming and brilliant at what he does – really impressive, et cetera. He holds a room remarkably. But I was young and susceptible, and he targeted me, no question,” Pearce said.

Pearce said the #MeToo movement, which saw multiple allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against men in Hollywood in 2017, was “a really incredible wake-up call” for him. Spacey was accused at the time by the actor Anthony Rapp of having made sexual advances towards him at a party in New York in 1986, when Rapp was 14.

Spacey was legally cleared of misconduct and sexual assault respectively in separate trials in the US and the UK, and successfully defended himself against a lawsuit brought by Rapp.

“I was in London working on something, and I heard [the reports] and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn’t stop,” Pearce said. “I think it really dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had either shelved it or blocked it out or whatever.”

He said he was reluctant to describe himself as a victim, “even though I probably was a victim to a degree; I was certainly not a victim by any means to the extent that other people have been to sexual predators.”

Spacey responded to the allegations on Tuesday on X. “We worked together a long time ago,” he said in a video, addressing Pearce. “If I did something then that upset you, you could have reached out to me. We could have had that conversation, but instead, you’ve decided to speak to the press, who are now, of course, coming after me, because they would like to know what my response is to the things that you said. You really want to know what my response is? Grow up.”

Spacey claimed that Pearce flew to Georgia a year after LA Confidential was made “just to spend time with me” while Spacey was filming Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

“I mean, did you tell the press that too, or does that not fit into the victim narrative you have going?” Spacey said. “I apologise that I didn’t get the message that you don’t like spending time with me. Maybe there was another reason, I don’t know, but that doesn’t make any sense. That you would have just been leading me on, right? But here you are now on a mission, some 28 years later, after I’ve been through hell and back.”

Spacey ended his message by saying: “You want to have a conversation? I’m happy to do so, anytime, anyplace. We can even do it here, live on X, if you like. I’ve got nothing to hide. But Guy – you need to grow up. You are not a victim.”

Pearce told the Hollywood Reporter that he had raised Spacey’s alleged behaviour with him years later, but he subsequently “had a couple of confrontations with Kevin” that “got ugly”.

Speaking last May on NewsNation, Spacey said he believed the #MeToo movement had “swung very, very far in the direction of unfairness” but that he was “trying to show that I’ve listened. I’ve learned. I’ve got the memo. I feel very strongly that whatever mistakes I’ve made in my life, that I paid a price.”

• Film
• Guy Pearce
• Kevin Spacey
• #MeToo movement
• news