Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey continues his comeback with the first trailer for the upcoming thriller The Contract…in which the American Beauty and House of Cards star plays “The Devil.” Which is perhaps a little on the nose? Anyway, The Contract is all set to debut at the Cairo Film Festival later this week, with Variety revealing the first look at this surprisingly low-budget-looking psychological thriller about a journalist who, in looking for a scoop, crosses paths with the Devil himself – Kevin Spacey.
Directed by Italian filmmaker Massimo Paolucci (All in One Day, Photoshock), the thriller is based on an idea by Caroletti, which has been scripted by his wife, Eva Henger, and is produced by Tm Entertainment and Sandro Lazzerini. The movie is led by The Dark Knight star Eric Roberts (who, incidentally, starred in another movie this year titled The Contract which has a rating of just 2.8 on IMDb. A sign of things to come?) alongside Spacey, with the rest of the cast including Vincent Spano and Jennifer Caroletti.
According to the synopsis, Roberts stars as “a down-and-out “egocentric” journalist named Giuseppe who is obsessed with making a scoop to revive his career. In his drive to make this scoop Giuseppe intersects with “The Devil,” who provides help but eventually finds out that he has been manipulated all along by the character played by Spacey.”
Kevin Spacey Is Now Slowly Returning to the Spotlight
While Spacey is playing The Devil, don’t expect the Superman Returns actor to turn red and sport horns. Instead, Spacey’s demonic role has been likened to that of Al Pacino’s character in the 1997 horror outing The Devil’s Advocate, which finds the Hollywood icon starring as the Devil in human form, a high-powered lawyer, who tempts Keanu Reeves’ aspiring defense lawyer into sin. The Contract trailer also makes some oddly transparent references to Spacey’s now controversial past, with his character at one point saying, “I don’t care about the past, it’s all long gone!” So, expect more of that while the actor delivers what appears to be a laughably hammy performance amid all the shaky cam.
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Kevin Spacey’s career has largely stalled since 2018, when several allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. Those allegations began after Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances towards him in the 1980s when Rapp was underage. While Spacey faced multiple criminal investigations, he was either not charged or charges were dropped, with Rapp going on to sue Spacey for sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, he was found not liable on all counts.
Spacey is now slowly making a comeback, with the actor winning the Best Thriller Performance at the Folkestone Independent Film Awards following his villainous turn in last year’s Control, in which the actor is only heard and never seen. Earlier this year, the Oscar winner played an assassin in the neo-noir thriller Peter Five Eight, and is due to star alongside DJ Qualls in Deadlock and star as Gore Vidal in the upcoming biographical drama, Gore. How do you feel about Kevin Spacey returning to the spotlight?