It was disappointing, but I remained hopeful. What has changed things for him is the second Oscar he won last year for American Beauty . Now roles like The Shipping News and the thriller K-Pax , once linked to John Travolta and Will Smith, are his. Spacey says he has one priority when it comes to choosing a project, the story. That's what drew him to play a teacher disfigured by severe burns in Pay it Forward .
Hunt is the boy's alcoholic mother who becomes involved with Spacey's character.
In turn the boy has to help his teacher escape his sad self-imposed cocoon. To look like a burn victim, Spacey had to spend hours in the make-up chair every day. Making it look real was important to the actor. I didn't want the audience to know where my skin ends and the prosthetics begin. I went to see real burn victims, who like this character, lived with their scars and skin grafts.