Steven Paul is bringing Kevin Spacey back to American cinemas.
Paul, producer on the Baby Geniuses franchise, and one of the architects of the Trump-backed “Make Hollywood Great Again” plan to renationalize runaway production, has taken North American rights to Spacey-starrer The Contract. Paul’s SP Releasing picked up the film and is planning a theatrical release in early 2026, Italian producers Anteprima tell THR.
The film, from Italian director Massimo Paolucci, sees the former House of Cards actor playing “the devil” in the form of a human lawyer, akin to Al Pacino’s role in Devil’s Advocate. “When Hell Surrounds You The Devil Is Your Last Hope” reads the film’s tagline. Eric Roberts and Vincent Spano co-star. The Contract had its world premiere at the Cairo Film Festival last year.
Since his 2017 firing from House of Cards — due to sexual misconduct allegations and subsequent legal battles — Spacey has been trying to stage a Hollywood comeback via the route of low-budget indies. He appeared alongside Faye Dunaway in Franco Nero’s Italian drama The Man Who Drew God (2022), had a voice role in U.K. action thriller Control (2023), and starred in Michael Zaiko Hall’s action comedy Peter Five Eight (2024). Spacey was in Cannes this year to present the trailer for Holiguards Saga — The Portal of Force, a $10 million sci-fi action movie he both directed and starred in.
Spacey always denied all criminal charges and was found not guilty in separate sexual assault trials in the U.S. and the U.K..
Paul, whose production credits also include Ghost Rider and Ghost in the Shell, is the long-term manager of Jon Voight, one of the “Hollywood Ambassadors” tapped by Trump to boost filming in the U.S. With Voight, Paul helped draft a sweeping proposal, centered around a federal film incentive program and tariffs to the government aimed at curbing runaway production.
There’s been no legislation yet as a result, though Trump continues to threaten he will impose “100 percent tariffs” on movies “made outside the U.S.”
