At first speaking event in 5 years, Kevin Spacey to receive lifetime achievement award
LOS ANGELES—The actor Kevin Spacey, who first won an Oscar for playing the role of an adult George Costanza in a 1991 episode of Seinfeld and then was cast as the gay dad in the film Mean Girls, will be honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the recipient of the lifetime achievement award this Sunday, Jan. 2, at the 72nd Annual Oscars.
Spacey will receive the Career Achievement Award, the Academy has announced. The actor will be presented with his award by producer Harvey Weinstein, who said in a statement, “Kevin Spacey has lived his entire life without apology. He will be sorely missed. He gave us our first great comedy. And for this, I am sorry, Harvey.”
Weinstein will be honored with the Producer of the Year award. In his statement, Weinstein added, “Kevin Spacey has been an inspiration to me and a joy to work with for over four decades, and I am truly appreciative of all he has given to film and to our world.”
Spacey, who stars in the upcoming film The Informant!, said in the statement that in his acceptance speech, he would be talking about his past, where he came from and what his life has meant to him in the present. “I hope today will be a place for conversation. But more importantly, a place for celebration,” Spacey added. “I’ve been so lucky to have met and know people who have shaped my life as I made them.”
Among the guests at Sunday’s event will be his longtime friend and collaborator, George Clooney, who is also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Monuments Men. While Clooney is well-established in the Academy’s hierarchy, Spacey is the first directorial nom sent back to the voters.
As the producer of the film Mean Girls, Spacey will become the second person in the history of the Academy Awards to receive an award as a producer, joining the legendary Walt Disney Productions and their “Star Wars” team. (The first time a nominated director was a producer of a win was in the category Best Visual Effects in 2002, when Michael Bay won Best Visual Effects for