Kevin Spacey plots theatre comeback over dinner with Trevor Nunn

Kevin Spacey plotted his theatrical comeback over a champagne dinner with legendary director Sir Trevor Nunn, it was claimed today.

The Hollywood star was cleared of all charges in his sexual assault trial last week and is hoping to resurrect his acting career after years in the wilderness.

Spacey was spotted dining with Sir Trevor at the Colony Grill Room in The Beaumont Hotel, Mayfair, where the a la carte menu includes a £480 serving of beluga caviar, while the most expensive bottle of fizz is a 2014 Louis Roederer Cristal, costing £390.

The pair began their meeting on Monday night with champagne, ‘toasting his recent courtroom successes’, according to The Fence magazine.

They are then said to have discussed the possibility of Spacey running a British regional theatre, having spent more than a decade as artistic director of London’s Old Vic.

‘Nunn praised [Spacey’s] innate connection with audiences. Specifically, a plan involving the Hollywood superstar taking on a regional British theatre as part of his redemption arc was discussed,’ the magazine reported.

‘So, if you’re in a cash-strapped repertory theatre somewhere in the provinces, then a mysterious benefactor might well be coming your way soon.’

With two Oscars for his performances in American Beauty and The Usual Suspects under his belt, Spacey was at the peak of his powers when bombshell allegations of sex offences were levelled against him six years ago.

His once-glittering career suddenly went into freefall, as he suffered the humiliation of being sacked from hit Netflix series House of Cards and being edited out of the Sir Ridley Scott film All The Money In The World, as well as vast financial losses.

Yet he always remained confident that he could reverse his fortunes, once remarking in an interview: ‘In ten years, it won’t mean anything. My work will live longer than I will, and that’s what will be remembered.’

Last week, a jury at Southwark Crown Court cleared Spacey of offences involving grabbing, squeezing, and touching of four victims’ genitals and buttocks over their clothing between 2005 to 2013, mostly during his time at the Old Vic.

On the steps of the court after the verdicts were delivered, the US actor thanked the jury, his legal team as well as his longtime friend Evan Lowenstein for standing by him.  

He said: ‘I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today. 

‘But I would like to say that I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts, carefully, before they reached their decision.

‘I am humbled by the outcome today. I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security, my legal team and Evan Lowenstein for being here every day.’

It was claimed in the subsequent days that some of the jury were taken to meet Spacey, who thanked them and shook their hands.

Around half dozen members reportedly waited outside the courthouse to see if they could meet him, with it even described as a ‘meet and greet’ by one journalist.

They were taken back into the foyer to meet Spacey, where he was also said to have ‘made a brief bow towards them with his arms crossed across his chest’, Variety reported.

The actor appeared to be weeping and thanking the jurors, The Sunday Times claimed, and the scene was described as being ‘like watching Spacey greet his fans on the red carpet’.

Sir Trevor – who was artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company before becoming head of the Royal National Theatre – first started working with Spacey nearly 20 years ago, when he directed him in Richard II, before reuniting on a production of Inherit the Wind in 2009.

Sir Trevor said at the time: ‘Some people are theatre animals, some people are not. You will find many fine actors in movies who will never go near a theatre. But Kevin is totally a theatre animal.’