All the world is a stage: Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey puts Shakespeare on the screen #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

KEVIN SPACEY tells Day & Night the main reason he made a documentary movie about his time running the Old Vic is so that his friends in Hollywood wouldn’t think he was so weird.

DEFENDING THEATRE: Kevin Spacey is so proud of his new film that he is distributing it himself[GETTY]

Speaking at a US screening of the documentary he says: “For the better part of the 10 years I’ve been there people have looked at me kind of like a puzzled dog and asked why I work in theatre.

"They think film and TV are more valuable.

"This film is for people who don’t get theatre and for people who love it too.

“When you play tennis it’s the same rules but a different game every time.

When you play tennis it’s the same rules but a different game every time. That’s how live theatre is.

Kevin Spacey

"That’s how live theatre is. It’s different every single night and that’s what comes across in the movie.”

The film called Now is such a labour of love for the 54-year-old actor that he is distributing it himself rather than releasing it through a company.

“I could have gone cap in hand to a film festival but then I wouldn’t be sure of it getting the release it deserves,” he explains.

Opening in Britain next month, Now follows the international tour of his production of Richard III, which debuted at the Old Vic where Spacey is artistic director.

Playing Shakespeare’s villain proved great preparation for his latest TV success in House Of Cards.

“My character in that was originally based on Richard III, who also directly addressed the audience.

"That breaking of the fourth wall was invented by Shakespeare and not, as some think by [the 1980s US comedy character portrayed by Matthew Broderick] Ferris Bueller.”