Spacey Unmasked review: A disturbing portrayal of how Kevin Spacey turned his charisma on and off like a spotlight, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS

Spacey Unmasked (Channel 4) 

Rating:

Kevin Spacey's brother is called Randy. Given the litany of appalling sexual allegations levelled against the House of Cards star, this seems almost too aptly Freudian.

Randy favours a flamboyant style, with gold-rimmed specs, a blue frock coat, kipper tie, touch of lipstick and a Rod Stewart hairdo. The get-up is self-defence, he says, a cloak of confidence against the lifelong trauma inflicted by his childhood.

His father, a neo-Nazi who festooned the family home with swastikas, used to beat him with a riding crop, and worse. The family photo album revealed a gaunt-faced man with dead eyes – and a toothbrush moustache.

This jaw-dropping bit of background bio was just one of a series of insights in Spacey Unmasked (C4) that delivered much more psychological grist than the usual exposé documentaries.

Spacey Unmasked (C4) delivered much more psychological grist than the usual exposé documentaries

In tonight's second episode, Randy describes in blood-chilling detail how his father raped him throughout his teenage years.

His brother Kevin is three years younger and escaped the worst of the abuse, Randy believes, through being their mother's favourite. But Randy left home when his little brother was 16. What happened to Kevin after that, and to what extent his sexual character was twisted by his experience, no one can know.

This two-part film by director Katherine Haywood is remarkable, not least because Spacey has not been found guilty of any sexual offence. On the contrary, last year he was acquitted in the UK of indecent assaults on four men.

He has not been charged with any further crimes, though a court in California has ruled that Spacey must pay more than £24million to the media rights company MRC in compensation for the losses they suffered when he was fired from the Netflix megahit House Of Cards, following multiple allegations of sexual misbehaviour on set. Spacey later had his liability reduced to just $1million.

But the combined effect in Spacey Unmasked, of testimonies from ten men whose carefully precise accounts appear to corroborate each other, seems compelling evidence for further investigation. 

The Young Kevin: Pictures of the House of Cards star used in the Channel 4 documentary 

As well as a catalogue of stories detailing sexual assault, it give us a vivid impression of the aura Spacey projects, a deliberate charisma that can be switched on or off like a spotlight.

Two of the alleged victims were former marines, both straight, both hoping for movie careers and starstruck by Spacey's fame. They claim he singled them out and treated them like potential lovers from the moment they met, with the explicit promise he could help them get film roles.

One man called Travis said the actor told him that seducing an ex-army man with a girlfriend was part of the attraction.

Some of the stories were sickeningly graphic. All had a common theme, that the victims were left feeling a sense of shame that they had somehow invited the assault – even the man who described a near-rape, 40 years ago in his own office, when he and Spacey had not exchanged a word.

Last weekend, the actor published a 95-minute interview on social media, denying any sexual misconduct. 'I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone who's made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,' he insisted.

Two questions remained unanswered. One is general: are men more likely to remain silent after a sexual attack by another man because male rape is still such a taboo? Only one of these ten has ever made allegations against Spacey on the record before now.

The other question is specific to the film and TV industry: how widespread is sexual grooming of men by other, more powerful men? Inevitably, when claims about his behaviour first hit the headlines in 2017, the agencies, corporations and theatre companies that had been so proud to work with him all protested their shock and outrage. None admitted to hearing any hint of gossip.

This two-part film by director Katherine Haywood is remarkable, not least because Spacey has not been found guilty of any sexual offence

Pictured: Oscar Winning Actor Kevin Spacey cries while leaving Southwark Crown Court after being found not guilty in his trial for allegedly sexually assaulting three men

Yet several of the witnesses in Spacey Unmasked insisted that his proclivities were common knowledge.

One investigative journalist on tonight's episode, Chloe Melas, says: 'I had people tell me Spacey touched them, inappropriately, rubbing their shoulders, a pat on the back, a lingering hug.

'He would shake their hand, and then on point of contact grab their hand down to his crotch.

'People described it as a toxic work environment that made them not want to work around Spacey, fearful to be around him, worried that they might get preyed upon next.'

In all these accounts, there was a sense that Spacey seemed unaware he was doing anything wrong. Is that solely because (if the allegations have any truth) his moral judgment is so unbalanced, his own libido so rampant?

Or is it because he feels protected by the behaviour of other men around him? We heard repeatedly that the star does not like to stand out in a crowd, that he wants to go unnoticed.

Could it be that, in Kevin Spacey's universe, he's no weirder than anyone else?