Kevin Spacey was “a little weird” on Call of Duty set, says Advanced Warfare director Glen Schofield

Kevin Spacey’s time on the set of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was described as “a little weird” by game director Glen Schofield, who reflected on the actor’s behaviour during production.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Schofield explained that he specifically wanted Spacey to portray villain Jonathan Irons, despite knowing the actor had limited knowledge of video games.

He said Spacey delivered an “unbelievable” performance, particularly in a speech about democracy, but admitted working with him off-camera could be challenging.

“He just is a great actor,” Schofield said. “Then when we said cut, you could tell the video games weren’t his thing. We had to get him a trailer. So he had a trailer outside that he would go in and he was a little bit more difficult, I would say.”

According to Schofield, Spacey occasionally said things “that just weren’t proper,” which left the team uncomfortable. “We all had to fake laugh. There was some stuff,” he added, without elaborating further.

At the time of the game’s release in November 2014, Spacey was one of Hollywood’s leading stars through his role in Netflix’s House of Cards. Three years later, in 2017, allegations of sexual misconduct against the actor surfaced. Spacey denied the charges and was acquitted in criminal trials, while also being found not liable in a civil case brought by Anthony Rapp.

Schofield revealed that plans existed for Spacey’s potential return in a follow-up despite his character’s death, but the scandal ended those discussions. “We were going to go there,” he said. “I’m glad we didn’t, because it was like two months before we would have shipped when the scandal broke.”

The next entry in the franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, is set to continue the series’ trend of featuring high-profile celebrity talent.