Indie distributor Vertical Entertainment - the company behind recent John Travolta release Gotti - will grant crime drama Billionaire Boys Club a limited release in US cinemas this August following its Video On Demand debut in July.
The project's fate remained unclear following the accusations of sexual assault made against Spacey in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that rocked Hollywood last year. Many worked swiftly, namely Netflix who fired him from House of Cards and Ridley Scott who replaced his scenes with Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World.
Vertical, however, believes the rest of the cast shouldn't be penalised because of Spacey's actions, a decision they stated was “neither easy nor insensitive.” The actor's role is said to be a smaller role among an ensemble cast including Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton and Emma Roberts.
“We hope these distressing allegations pertaining to one person’s behaviour — that were not publicly known when the film was made almost two-and-a-half years ago and from someone who has a small, supporting role in Billionaire Boys Club — does not tarnish the release of the film,” Vertical said in a statement.
“We don't condone sexual harassment on any level and we fully support victims of it. At the same time, this is neither an easy nor insensitive decision to release this film in theatres, but we believe in giving the cast, as well as hundreds of crew members who worked hard on the film, the chance to see their final product reach audiences.”
The statement continued: “In the end, we hope audiences make up their own minds as to the reprehensible allegations of one person’s past, but not at the expense of the entire cast and crew present on this film.”
Spacey appears in the film as Beverly Hills conman Ron Levin. Despite pouring water on the level of his appearance, Vertical has given the actor star billing in a brand new international trailer which you can watch above.
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