Judi Dench has spoken out about her current emotions toward Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, both of whom played important roles in her life and career before their #MeToo claims.
Spacey, who costarred with Dench in the 2001 film “The Shipping News,” consoled her after her husband Michael Williams died that same year. Meanwhile, Weinstein helped advance Dench’s career prospects when his production company Miramax obtained the 1997 drama “Mrs. Brown,” which was her first starring role.
Dench stated that Spacey “has been exonerated” and they “texted” in an earlier conversation with The Radio Times regarding her views on forgiveness.
In a criminal trial in the United Kingdom in 2023, Spacey was found not guilty of sexual harassment; in a civil action filed in New York in 2022, he was similarly found not responsible. But next year, a London civil court will hear three more allegations of sexual assault against the actor.
She remarked on Weinstein, who is currently incarcerated after being found guilty of rape: “I saw a bit of film of Harvey walking with two sticks and you think, ‘Well…’ ‘I knew Harvey, and I knew him well and worked with him, and I had none of that experience — very fortunately for me.” Dench went on, “I imagine he’s done his time,” despite her sympathy for his victims. “I don’t know, to me it’s personal — forgiveness.”
Dench had previously been outspoken to The Radio Times about Spacey and Weinstein, saying in 2019 that their work should be kept apart from their purported transgressions.
Regarding Spacey, Dench said, “Are we going to negate 10 years at the Old Vic and everything that he did, how wonderful he’s been in all those films? Are we just not going to see all those films that Harvey produced? You cannot deny somebody a talent. You might as well never look at a Caravaggio painting. You might as well never have gone to see Noel Coward.”
