French Actor-Director Nicolas Bedos Being Investigated on Rape, Sexual Assault Charges Following Three Complaints

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Sex and the City” star Chris Noth spoke on the record for the first time to USA Today about the multiple sexual assault allegations made against him in 2021. The actor denied wrongdoing, but he admitted to cheating on his wife. “I strayed on my wife, and it’s devastating to her and not a very pretty picture,” he said.

Chris Noth broke his silence about being accused of sexual assault by multiple women — and discussed where his career goes from here. 

Chris Noth is speaking out almost two years after he was first accused of sexual assault by multiple women, which go back to around 2004.

William Friedkin, who won as Oscar for directing The French Connection, scored a nomination for The Exorcist and also helmed The Boys in the Band, To Live and Die in L.A., Rules of Engagement and others, died today in Los Angeles. He way 87.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent An edgy new voice within the world of French genre, Adrien Beau worked as a designer and scenographer for the likes of Dior, John Galliano and Agnes B before making his feature debut with the offbeat vampire movie “Vourdalak.” Produced by Judith-Lou Levy at Les Films du Bal, “Vourdalak” will world premiere at Venice Critics’ Week and will likely be one of its boldest entries. At a time when horror has become a mainstream genre overloaded with special effects, “Vourdalak” couldn’t be more radical.

Kevin Spacey was acquitted of the sexual assault charges against him on his 64th birthday on Wednesday.

Kevin Spacey was cleared of all sexual assault charges on Wednesday, July 26, following his four-week trial in the U.K.

Kevin Spacey has been cleared of sexual assault charges in a London trial.The actor was acquitted of all nine charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday (July 26), including seven counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.As reported by Reuters, Spacey began to cry when the verdict was returned by the jury, before he thanked court staff.During the four-week trial, Spacey was accused of sexual offences against four men, alleged to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. He was accused of performing a sex act on a former aspiring actor while he slept, and of several other assaults – including grabbing a driver’s crotch during a car ride to a celebrity party outside London.Ahead of the trial, Spacey denied all the charges and described the prosecution’s case against him as “weak”.In court, the actor said he had been “open” about times he had been “promiscuous”, saying: “It doesn’t make me a bad person.”During his closing speech, Spacey’s defence barrister, Patrick Gibbs KC, accused three of the four men of lying “for reasons which, ultimately, will only ever be known to themselves”, while suggesting the fourth was intoxicated.“It’s not a crime to like sex, even if you’re famous and it’s not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous, and it’s not a crime to have casual sex,” Gibbs told jurors.

Kevin Spacey was found not guilty Wednesday of all the sexual assault charges he was facing in a U.K. trial.

Kevin Spacey broke down in tears after a jury found him not guilty of committing sex offenses against four men.The two-time Oscar winner, 64, was acquitted of nine charges — including sexual assault, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity — by a London court on Wednesday.He faced the possibility of life in prison if found guilty of the crimes. The charges pertained to sex offense allegations that plaintiffs claimed took place between 2004 and 2013, while the star of acclaimed films such as “The Usual Suspects” and “Seven” served as artistic director at London’s historic Old Vic theater.The jury, composed of six men and three women, deliberated for three days after hearing mountains of evidence over the course of the five-week trial.

K.J. Yossman Kevin Spacey broke down in tears on Wednesday as a U.K. jury found him not guilty of nine charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and – the most serious charge – causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While Greta Gerwig’s girl-power blockbuster “Barbie” is ruling over the French box office, another much younger female-led franchise, “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir” has managed to pull approximately €8 million ($8.9 million) at the local B.O., from more than 1.1 million tickets, since bowing on July 5. Budgeted around $80 million and directed by Jeremy Zag, “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir” ranks as one of France’s most ambitious animated films to date. Featuring eight original songs, a queer storyline and a postcard-worthy Parisian backdrop, the musical film broke ground as the first female-powered superhero movie set in the French capital. Even as it faces stiff competition from “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir” has enough legs to match or surpass recent non-U.S. animated hits such as “Ballerina,” which sold 1.8 million tickets in France. It garnered 318,144 admissions on its opening day in theaters, a record for a French animated film. In Germany, the movie sold 586,148 tickets in three weeks and is currently the leading family title at the box office.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The double SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes are worrying exhibitors in France, where the box office is driven by Hollywood blockbusters. In an interview with French news channel BFM Business, Richard Patry, who presides over the National Federation of Cinemas, predicts “the strike might go on for a long time” because it’s aimed at streaming services. “Many U.S. films have already started to be delayed, and it worries us a lot for 2024,” Patry said. The dearth of U.S. releases during the pandemic hurt the French box office, which was down by about 30% in 2022. Even if French movies have a large market share domestically, U.S. blockbusters typically drive an upward trend. Case in point: the French B.O. finally recovered this year and has been up 33%, bolstered by a spike in anticipated American movies, which skyrocketed from 29 in 2022 to 51 in the first five months of 2023, according to Comscore France. 

Kevin Spacey's lawyer claimed three of his four accusers were "liars" who fabricated sexual assault allegations against the actor in order to receive a potential payout. Spacey was an easy mark for men who hopped on a "bandwagon" and fabricated stories in hopes of a payout, attorney Patrick Gibbs said.

Kevin Spacey was “tried by social media” and “cancelled” after he was accused of sexual assaults, Southwark Crown Court heard today as the Oscar-winner’s defense rested its case.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French film guilds representing authors, directors and producers have released a joint letter pledging their “full solidarity” with the SAG-AFTRA and WGA double strike. “This battle that’s shaping tomorrow’s industry crosses borders. It’s also ours,” reads the letter, which was signed by the ARP (authors, directors, producers) and SRF (society of French directors), the governing body of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. The letter says the double strike “signals a turning point where the questions of sharing of wealth and integration of new models and AI are central.”

A preliminary investigation into accusations of rape and sexual assault against popular French actor and director Nicolas Bedos has been opened by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.

Kevin Spacey ‘s lawyers enlisted the help of an A-list star Monday in his sexual assault trial, calling Elton John and his husband to cast doubt on one of the Oscar winner’s accusers at the end of the defense case.

X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan has revealed that raped by a hotel porter while competing on the talent show in 2012.The singer – who is now aged 31 – has detailed the attack in her new memoir Process: Finding My Way Through, and shared that she was assaulted after a night out celebrating fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s birthday in Mayfair, as ITV reported.Aged 20 at the time, Spraggan said that she fell unconscious during the party and was later escorted back to her hotel by a member of the ITV production team and a hotel porter. The porter, however, later used a “traceable keycard” to enter her room and attack her.In the memoir, she also recalls how she took a drug to prevent HIV after the attack and later experienced side effects that made her too unwell to continue the show.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Jane Birkin, the beloved British-French actor and singer who spent most of her life in France and is known for a tumultuous relationship with French singer-songwriter Charles Gainsbourg, died on Sunday (July 16) at her home in Paris, according to Le Parisien newspaper. She was 76. No cause of death has yet been confirmed. Birkin was best known internationally for her steamy 1969 duet “Je t’aime… moi non plus” which she sang with Gainsbourg, one year after meeting him. Together, Birkin and Gainsbourg had a daughter, the actor and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Melancholia,” “Nymphomaniac”).