London Calling From his expatriate base overlooking the Thames, Kevin Spacey discusses his new role as Lex Luthor in the new Superman Returns. By Craig Modderno Since winning the Best Actor Oscar for American Beauty in 2000, Kevin Spacey has not found a screen role in which his mega-talent has fully resonated with critics and audiences the way so many of his performances up to that point did. Through his production company Trigger Street Productions, Spacey continues to be a force for independent films like The United States of Leland, in which he had a supporting role opposite Ryan Gosling. And in London, where the snobby British love/hate dialectic with movie stars outstrips America's merely schizophrenic relationship with them, he soldiers on at the Old Vic. Having most recently hit big screens in Beyond the Sea, the biopic of Bobby Darin that he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, Spacey is looking for his first big hit in a while with Superman Returns. And that serves to remind us that Spacey remains one of the few actors who can, in the style of Laurence Olivier, find it fun and satisfying to play, by turns, Shakespeare's wicked Richard II on the London stage and the bald baddie Lex Luthor on summer screens. Craig Modderno: How will Superman Returns be different from the previous Superman films? Kevin Spacey: It actually begins five years after Superman II ends. We've got some surprise cameos in our film, and through the magic of moviemaking Marlon Brando returns from the grave to reprise his role as Superman's father. Q: Did you study Gene Hackman's performances as Lex Luthor in the Superman films as part of your research? A: No sir, I did not. I've seen them and they're very enjoyable, but all the Lex Luthor and Superman performances on the TV series and in the films are different. An actor would be crazy to try to repeat someone else's performance in a movie like this that will be entertaining audiences forever. Q: Your L.A. Confidential director, Curtis Hanson, said that film was about image and reality. How does the public and the film industry's image of you differ from your reality? A: [Laughs heartily] I haven't a clue. That's asking me to view myself from someone else's perspective, which is fairly hard to do. I don't think I could come up with an answer that would be vaguely revealing. I've never been someone who lets cameras into my personal life. [Laughs again] Hey, I'm just glad I have a career. Excerpted from the July/August 2006 issue of Hollywood Life. For more Kevin Spacey from Movieline, read on...

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