Judi Dench Said She ‘Can’t Approve’ Of Kevin Spacey Being Cut From Films

Actress Judi Dench has defended Kevin Spacey following the sexual assault and misconduct allegations made against the actor.

Late last year, Spacey was accused by actor Anthony Rapp of making a sexual advance towards him when Rapp was 14. Rapp’s allegations caused a number of other men to come forward with allegations against Spacey, which led to Netflix removing him from the final season of House of Cards and director Ridley Scott re-filming his scenes in All the Money in the World, replacing his role with Christopher Plummer.

Dench is quoted at the San Sebastian International Film Festival asking: “Are we to do what happened when he was replaced with Christopher Plummer? Are we to do that throughout history?

“Are we to go back throughout history and anyone who has misbehaved in any way, or who has broken the law, or who has committed some kind of offence, are they always going to be cut out? Are we going to extrude them from our history? I don’t know…”

“I don’t know about the conditions of it, but nevertheless he is, and was, a most wonderful actor,” Dench continued. “I can’t imagine what he is doing now. And a good friend.”

Mostly, Dench said she disapproved of Spacey losing roles in the wake of the scandal: “I can’t approve, in any way, of the fact that – whatever he has done – that you then start to cut him out of the films.”

Spacey and Dench worked together on The Shipping News in 2011, for which they were both Bafta nominated. Dench took the role shortly after the death of her husband, and said: “Kevin was an inestimable comfort and never mentioned he knew I was in a bad way. He cheered me up and kept me going.”

Spacey has faced over 30 sexual assault and misconduct allegations since late 2017.

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