The actor Kevin Spacey will be awarded the Nation Awardthe film award wanted and organized by the President Michel Curatolo with the artistic consultant Marco Fallanca under the high patronage of the Senate of the Republic and the Sicilian Region. The July 21st next, in the gala evening that will be held at the Ancient Theatre of Taormina, The two-time Oscar winner for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty will receive a lifetime achievement award. Once again, the Pearl of the Ionian renews its special bond with international cinema: in the past, the Nation Award has been assigned to other world icons of the big screen such as Gina Lollobrigida, Claudia Cardinale, F. Murray Abraham, Gerard Depardieu, Ferzan Ozpetek, Daniel Brühl, Nicola Piovani, Abel Ferrara and Vittorio Storaro. In 2023, the award was given to actor F. Murray Abraham – Oscar winner for Amadeus by Miloš Forman – who in 1995 played the role of the coryphaeus in Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite and returned to Taormina twenty-seven years later, on the occasion of the filming of the second season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus. During the evening Kevin Spacey – awarded last year at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin – will perform a short performance in the evocative setting of the Teatro Antico.
Kevin Spacey’s Career
In his decades-long film career, Kevin Spacey has memorably portrayed characters such as Keyzer Söze in The Usual Suspects, John Doe in Se7en, Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential, Lester Burnham in American Beauty, Lex Luthor in Superman Returns, and Frank Underwood in the hit Netflix series House of Cards, a role that earned him a Golden Globe, two SAG Awards, and five consecutive Emmy Award nominations. Spacey’s other credits include Glengarry Glen Ross, Consenting Adults, Swimming with Sharks, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Negotiator, The Big Kahuna, Ordinary Decent Criminal, K-Pax, The Life of David Gale, Margin Call, Elvis & Nixon, and Baby Driver. He also directed the films Albino Alligator and Beyond the Sea.
“Kevin Spacey is a timeless monument in the history of cinema and theater, who unquestionably deserves the chance to have his brilliant career back” said Michel Curatolo and Marco Fallanca, emphasizing that “Taormina is one of the oldest venues for cinematic celebrations in Italy and it is a true privilege to be able to witness a performance by one of the great actors of our time. Both the public and the industry miss his boundless talent every day and we are extremely proud to stand alongside such an extraordinary artist”.
After studying dramatic art at the Juilliard School and making his New York stage debut in 1981, Spacey has been a chameleon-like actor, equally at home on stage and screen, establishing himself with standout performances on and off Broadway, in such productions as William Shakespeare’s Henry I, Part I, Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, Molière’s The Misanthrope, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. In 1991, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Uncle Louie in Neil Simon’s hit Lost in Yonkers, followed by a Laurence Olivier Award and another Tony Award nomination in 1999 for The Iceman Cometh. Spacey played the title role in Richard III in 2011 and Clarence Darrow in a West End production of Darrow in 2014 and 2015. From 2003 to 2015, he was artistic director of London’s historic Old Vic theatre.