Summary
- Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey’s new film “Control” is set to release in December, marking his return to the big screen after his acquittal for sexual assault.
- Directed by Gene Fallaize, the thriller features Spacey in a major voice role as a mysterious man who remotely hijacks the car of a British politician.
- Despite controversy surrounding Spacey’s casting, Fallaize stands by his decision.
Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey will next star in the thriller Control following his acquittal for sexual assault in the United Kingdom, and the project has now set a release date. As revealed by Variety, Control is now scheduled to land in theaters in both the United States and the United Kingdom later this year on December 15.
Written and directed by Gene Fallaize (Cain Hill), Control will not feature Spacey on-screen, but the American Beauty and Se7en star does have a major voice role in the thriller as a mysterious man who remotely hijacks the car of a high-profile British politician.
Starring the likes of Lauren Metcalfe (The Trial of Christine Keeler, War of the Worlds), Mark Hampton (This England, Liaison), Natasha Kemball (City of Life), and Aaron Liburd (Black Bear, Revolution X) alongside Spacey, Control centers on British Home Secretary Stella Simmons who, as drives home one night after engaging in an affair with the Prime Minister, receives a call from man who remotely hijacks her self-driving car, forcing her on a rampage through London.
Control will be Spacey’s first movie following the legal issues and sexual assault allegations which have plagued the actor since as far back as 2018. Last year, Spacey was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in the U.K. with four counts of sexual assault against three complainants. Denying the allegations and pleading not guilty, a jury found Spacey not guilty of the remaining charges after several were dropped.
Control Director Knew the Risks in Hiring Kevin Spacey
Control director Gene Fallaize has previously opened up about hiring Kevin Spacey, who recorded his voice role in London last December, amid all the legal proceedings and allegations and reasoned that the risks were worth it should the actor be found not guilty.
“Well, I mean it was a risk and we knew it was a risk at the time. We had no shortage of people saying to us, ‘Ooh that’s a risky move,’” the filmmaker said last month. “But a good friend of mine, who used to be an exec at one of the studios, I had a frank discussion with him, and I said, ‘Look, what do you think? Is this going to be a bad career move, because people are saying to me that it could affect my career forever?’ And he said that he thought it was genius casting because if he gets found not guilty you will have got a clean Kevin Spacey in a way that you would never normally have been able to get him.”
Fallaize has since responded following the trial saying, “The only people that know everything are the ones that were in that courtroom and they decided he was not guilty. These people that are saying – if they’re saying – that we’re whitewashing him or enabling him to come back, what facts have they got to contradict the jury? I don’t regret casting Kevin and I would do it all over again.”
Once again, Control is now scheduled to be released in the U.K. and the U.S. on December 15, 2023. While a distributor is still being sought-after for the U.S. release, sources have stated to Variety that “TriCoast’s distribution arm, TriCoast Entertainment is the likely frontrunner to acquire the rights.”
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
