Kevin Spacey cuts back on Hollywood, devotes time to stage

For the part of Richard III, Spacey dons a hunchback to mimic the antihero’s crumpled physical appearance. PHOTO: FILE

LOS ANGELES: 

After shaking a leg with Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone at the 2014 International Indian Film Academy Awards, Hollywood star Kevin Spacey is venturing on a new project. The two-time Oscar-winning actor and star of popular televisions series House of Cards, said that he is all set to prove a personal point despite his lofty status in the Hollywood fraternity.

With new documentary Now: In the Wings on a World Stage, Spacey will let his personal passion for theatre roar in a film. The movie introduces audiences to his second career on the stage as he tours the world with his own company’s production of William Shakespeare’s historical play Richard III.

Interestingly, his role of the ruthless politician Francis Underwood in House of Cards is coincidentally based on Richard III. Spacey credits his move back to the stage for helping him with the role. “I wouldn’t have been ready for House of Cards 10 years ago, but I was ready this time and that’s because of the theatre.”

Spacey, 54, who has been the artistic director at London’s The Old Vic theatre since 2003, said his choice to cut back on his Hollywood career and devote time to the stage, struck many as a self-defeating project.

“A lot of people looked at me like a dog that’s sort of a little puzzled,” the star said with a smile. “‘Like, why do you do theatre and why did you go off and run this theatre for 10 years? I don’t get. And isn’t theatre boring? Why don’t you just do movies and make a lot of money?’”

Sharing what drives him towards working on the stage, he said, “I think for the actor working in a film, you learn how to work in two to three-minute segments,” he said. “But in theatre, you have to be up there for three hours and you have to do it once. You can’t have a second take.”

Directed by first-time filmmaker Jeremy Whelehan, Now: In The Wings opens in New York on Friday and is available for online download on Friday, rolling out to Los Angeles movie theatres next week after playing limited runs in other cities in the United States. It opens in the United Kingdom on June 9.

Shakespeare’s 16th century play, based on England’s medieval King Richard III, dramatises Richard’s bloody advance to the throne, all with a black comedy turn. For the part of Richard, Spacey dons a hunchback and affects a club-footed gait to mimic the antihero’s crumpled physical appearance.

Front and centre in the film is Spacey’s love of theatre. He especially relishes the stage as the ultimate actor’s realm, whereas film and TV belong to directors, editors and producers. “I always try to remember that no matter how good I might be in a film or a television show, I’ll never be any better. It’s frozen,” Spacey said. “In the theatre, I can be better. I can be better tomorrow night than I was tonight.