Two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey has earned the right to be selective when it comes to choosing movie roles in the Hollywood biz—a fact which he's not afraid to admit.
"Unless it's Martin Scorsese, and it's a really significant role, f--k off," he says in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm not playing someone's brother. I'm not playing the station manager. I'm not playing the FCC chairman."
Of course, his attitude doesn't come without merit, considering the critically acclaimed thesp was most recently nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Frank Underwood on the hit Netflix series House of Cards.
Prior to that, he was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe thanks to his performance on the show, which has received rave reviews in addition to developing a loyal legion of fans.
But despite his continued success, there's no telling what Spacey's next move will be. "People thought I was crazy 11 years ago when I moved to London and started a theater company," he explains. "What is he doing? He's out of his mind. People thought we were crazy when we made the Netflix deal for House of Cards. 'They're out of their minds, it'll never work.' I'm used to people thinking I'm nuts. And you know what? I kind of love it."
Having been honing his craft for years, Spacey was initially drawn to acting due to his desire to entertain his mother, who passed away in 2003. "Hearing my mother laugh was the greatest sound I've ever heard," he recalls, "so I learned how to do voices and imitations."
And shortly after he made a home for himself in Hollywood, the actor, who is always full of surprises, decided to pack his bags and move to London, where he became the first American artistic director of The Old Vic theater in an effort to keep himself from being pigeonholed in the movie biz.
"I remember having lots of very serious conversations with my mother about where I was at this particular point and just going, 'What am I supposed to do now? Am I supposed to do what I watch a lot of other people do?' Which is, 'Hey, now I'm on the list, I'm going to be in all these movies and get paid all this money,'" Spacey tells the mag. "It was absolutely unappealing to me to end up in a lot of movies I shouldn't do, to start showing up and doing the same thing over and over. I was already suffering from, 'He always plays evil guys.' 'He's always the dark character.' People love to box us in, and I wasn't going to be boxed. I decided I was going to f--k with it."
Which, clearly has worked in Spacey's favor, as he has maintained his A-list status while pursuing the films that he wants to do.
"There are a lot of people out there who offer roles to actors because they'll elevate their movie to a place the movie would never reach," he says. "They offer them a s--tload of money for a crap part, but it doesn't make the movie any better. And I'm not interested in elevating someone's crap movie."