Kevin Spacey brings stage act to big screen in documentary

Shakespeare’s 16th century play, based on England’s medieval King Richard III, dramatises Richard’s bloody advance to the throne, all with a black comedy turn.

Kevin Spacey, the two-time Oscar-winning actor and star of one of the most talked-about online streaming shows House of Cards, leans forward and says that even in his lofty status among Hollywood actors, he still has a personal point to prove.

With new documentary Now: In the Wings on a World Stage, Spacey lets his personal passion for theatre roar in a film that introduces audiences to his second career on the stage as he tours the world with his own company’s production of William Shakespeare’s historical play Richard III.

Spacey, 54, who has been the artistic director at London’s the Old Vic theatre since 2003, said his choice to cut back on his Hollywood career and devote his time to the stage, struck many as a self-defeating project.

“A lot of people looked at me like a dog that’s sort of a little puzzled,” the star said with a smile. “‘Like, why do you do theatre, and why did you go off and run this theatre for 10 years? I don’t get. And isn’t theatre boring? Why don’t you just do movies and make a lot of money?’”

The documentary, which is directed by first-time filmmaker Jeremy Whelehan, gives a behind-the-scenes look into the production, play and tour of the trans-Atlantic theatre group, the Bridge Project, a three-year venture between Spacey’s Old Vic, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and director Sam Mendes.

Now: In The Wings opened in New York on Friday and was available for online download on Friday, rolling out to Los Angeles movie theatres this week after playing limited runs in other U.S. cities. It opens in the United Kingdom on June 9.

It follows the project’s final production through rehearsals and its international tour to places such as Beijing, San Francisco and Greece’s ancient amphitheatre at Epidaurus.

Love for theatre

Shakespeare’s 16^th century play, based on England’s medieval King Richard III, dramatises Richard’s bloody advance to the throne, all with a black comedy turn. For the part of Richard, Spacey dons a hunchback and affects a club-footed gait to mimic the antihero’s crumpled physical appearance.

Front and centre in the film is Spacey’s love of theatre. He especially relishes the stage as the ultimate actor’s realm, whereas film and TV belong to directors, editors and producers.

“I think for the actor, working in film, you learn how to work in two- to three-minute segments,” he said. “But in theatre you have to be up there for three hours - and you have to do it once. You can’t have a second take.”

Spacey, who won a best actor Oscar for his role as an unhappy suburban father in Mendes’ 1999 film American Beauty, became animated speaking about theatre, likening playing the same role nightly to an athlete improving his game.

“I always try to remember that no matter how good I might be in a film or a television show, I’ll never be any better. It’s frozen,” Spacey said. “In the theatre, I can be better. I can be better tomorrow night than I was tonight.”

Although Spacey’s screen career has caught a second wind in middle-age as the star of Netflix’s popular political thriller House of Cards, he credits his move back to the stage for helping him with the role of ruthless politician Francis Underwood, which is coincidentally based on Richard III.

“I wouldn’t have been ready for House of Cards 10 years ago,” he said. “But I was ready this time and that’s because of the theatre.”