What should we think about Kevin Spacey?

I love the movie The Firm. I’ve told my wife this. I will watch the Firm any and every time it is on TV. I’ve seen it no fewer than 20 times in my life. Currently I am on a train from Boston to Newark, and if get to my hotel to find that it’s on TV tonight, then my total will be up to 21.

I admit this begrudgingly, because the star of The Firm is Tom Cruise, and while Cruise is not exactly “Box Office Poison,” he is a very polarizing star. His enthusiasm for what is clearly a cult (Scientology) has turned off many in the chattering classes, and I know plenty of people who just won’t pay to see a Tom Cruise movie because of, well, the *crazy*.

[BTW, if you don’t think Scientology is a cult — you are not my people. Your objection is noted.]

For all of his E-meter reading, Clear-going, couch-jumping antics, I’ve never really soured on Tom Cruise. I marvel at his performance in Born on the 4th of July. Rain Man. Jerry Maguire. His stellar turn in Collateral from Michael Mann. The mind-fuck of Vanilla Sky. The fuck-fuck of Eyes Wide Shut. Whatever-the-fuck-he-did in Magnolia because OH MY GOD was that amazing. His earnestness in A Few Good Men. His willingness to do whatever it takes on the Impossible Mission Force.

I’ll keep watching Tom Cruise.

And, in particular, I love him in The Firm. If I were trapped on a desert island, and could only take ten films, well…I’d reject the premise. I’ll take a radio and a flare gun. But while waiting, I’d watch The Firm over and over.

I’d watch it not so much for the lead actors — Cruise was earnest and solid; Jeanne Tripplehorn was…credited.

I’d watch it for the supporting cast. Hal Holbrook. David Strathairn. One of the finest performances of Gene Hackman’s LIFE. Holly Hunter. A loopy Gary Busey. The Dave Grusin score. Memphis.

But no performance stands out more than Wilford Brimley as the evil director of security for The Firm.

That’s right, the evil director of security.

What makes Brimley’s role as DeVasher, the slimy “fixer” of the corrupt Firm’s security function so effective isn’t just his performance. It’s the fact that Wilford Brimley is the face of Quaker Oats. Of “Diabeetus.” The power of that role comes from the fact that we know (or think we know) that there is no way the “real” Wilford Brimley would be trying to kill the real Tom Cruise. Lower his cholesterol, maybe. But surely not to otherwise cause him harm.

Brimley’s power in that role comes from what we know about the man. And what we know about the man, to date, was that he was a good man. And seeing a good man do evil is a bit of cognitive dissonance that lends the role power.
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And so it was watching Kevin Spacey play a villain in The Usual Suspects. Or the complex President in House of Cards. Or the charming impressionist in his appearance on the Actor’s Studio. Or what he made me feel in Seven. American Beauty. Baby Driver. Swimming With The Sharks. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

A good man, acting against type, creating a cognitive dissonance that leant power to the performance.

Except, by his own admission, Spacey has done some not-very-good things.

Reprehensible things.

Illegal things.

Netflix has now cancelled the next season of House of Cards, because it’s not good business to promote content by an admitted pedophile and sexual assaulter.

So yeah, I’m not big on the next Kevin Spacey movie.

But what about the Spacey movies from the past? Do I see them the same way? Does the power of his performances stem from my belief that he is acting so differently from who he really is? And do I know who that is? Really?

How do I keep watching Kevin Spacey movies?

How do I keep watching Tom Cruise movies?

Do the actions of the human color the work?

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil hits me differently now.

Do I make the distinction that it is OK to watch Cruise films because he “didn’t hurt anyone”, but not Spacey films, because he did?

Didn’t Cruise’s association with Scientology lead some innocents to ruin from his endorsement of a usurious cult? Is that worse than than the sexual assault of a minor?

When I sat down to write this..to think…I wasn’t sure of the answer here. I am still not. Should I stop watching Cruise movies? Should I stop watching Spacey movies?

Do I stop watching The Firm because Cruise’s involvement with Scientology has led many a poor young dreamer to ruin? Should I stop watching Spacey movies because he forced himself on a 14-year old?

I find myself more willing to say yes to the latter than the former, but I question that, too.

And that is uncomfortable.