Kevin Spacey lands first acting role since 2017 sexual assault accusations, reports say

Disgraced Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has reportedly landed his first role since being accused of sexual misconduct in 2017.

He is set to appear in director Franco Nero's upcoming Italian film, "L'uomo Che Disegnò Dio," opposite Nero's wife, Vanessa Redgrave, ABC and CNN report. 

"I'm very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film," Nero told ABC. "I consider him a great actor and I can't wait to start the movie."

USA TODAY has reached out to Nero and Spacey's representatives for further comment. 

More than a dozen men and teen boys accused Spacey of sexual harassment and assault in 2017, after which the once-revered actor's career came to a halt. Spacey was fired from his starring role in the final season of Netflix political drama series "House of Cards" and his last role was in 2018's biodrama "Billionaire Boys Club." 

"Rent" and "Star Trek: Discovery" actor Anthony Rapp was among the accusers. He told BuzzFeed in 2017 that he was 14 when he attended a party at Spacey's apartment, where he said an inebriated Spacey made sexual advances. 

In October 2017, Spacey issued a statement on Twitter saying he didn't remember the encounter but apologized. In the process, he came out as a gay man, sparking criticism he was trying to distract attention from Rapp's accusations.

"I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years," Spacey wrote.

More:Kevin Spacey scandal: A complete list of the 15 accusers

Since 2017, he has mostly kept a low profile, occasionally releasing videos and interviews. In one video in 2018, he appeared to criticize the Me Too movement while in character as Frank Underwood, his "House of Cards" character. In an interview last year on the Bits & Pretzels podcast, he equated his downfall from sexual misconduct allegations to the struggles of those losing their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A criminal case brought against him ended in 2019, when prosecutors in Nantucket, Massachusetts, announced they would drop the charge that Spacey sexually assaulted a teen bus boy at an island bar in the summer of 2016, "due to the unavailability of the complaining witness."

More:Kevin Spacey accuser must reveal his name in civil suit, judge orders

Rapp filed a lawsuit last September, detailing what he has said publicly about Spacey: That the older actor made a sexual advance to him when a teenage Rapp attended a party.

Earlier this month, a U.S. district judge in Manhattan ruled that another man accusing Spacey of sexually abusing him in the 1980s when he was 14 in the same lawsuit as Rapp would not be allowed to proceed anonymously in court. The man, identified as C.D., had met Spacey in the actor's suburban New York acting class before the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit that seeks over $40 million in damages.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the man's privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey's defense that would occur if he could proceed anonymously. Individuals with information that might support Spacey also would not know to come forward, the judge added.

Contributing: Maria Puente, USA TODAY, and the Associated Press