It’s a good thing he doesn’t need any more attention!
Kevin Spacey, who bemoaned his career struggles last week while accepting an honor at Cannes, evoked a classic Johnny line from “Airplane” on Saturday, as if to suggest it was he who caused the broad power outage that disrupted much of southeastern France and threatened the closing ceremony.
Spacey – using what appears to be AI – posted an image on X of himself as Johnny, the mischievous and irreverent air traffic controller from the 1980 comedy classic who briefly unplugs the runway lights as the ill-fated namesake flight is about to land before plugging it back in and delivering one of his many one liners: “Just kidding!”
French authorities suspect arson was behind a real power outage Saturday morning that threatened to disrupt the festival’s closing celebrations, including the Palme d’Or presentatin. Power was restored, however, around 3 p.m. local time, well before the big fête, drawing cheers from the crowd as music began blasting from the beachfront speakers once again.
And no, Spacey was not among the usual suspects.
But he joked that he was, in a clear reference to the scene from “Airplane!” (which, not surprisingly, did not premiere at Cannes when it came out 45 years ago).
Spacey’s resemblance to Johnny (played by Stephen Stucker) goes beyond just their similar appearance, as the actor spent the months and years after sexual assault accusations flew around him posting eccentric videos in his own defense that seemed to dismiss the gravity of the situation he was facing. Spacey faced a civil case in New York and a criminal case in London, but was cleared in both cases.
Spacey compared his own career collapse to victims of the Hollywood blacklist of the mid-20th Century on Tuesday as he accepted an award at Cannes, where the Better World Fund Gala (not related to the festival itself) honored the two-time Oscar winner the Award for Excellence in Film and Television.
“I’d like to congratulate [Better World Fund founder Manuel Collas de La Roche] for the decision to invite me here tonight to accept this award,” Spacey said as he accepted the honor. “Who would have ever thought that honoring someone who has been exonerated in every court room he’s ever walked into would be thought of as a brave idea. But here we are.”
And Leon’s getting laaaaarger.
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