Mena Suvari says she had a 'peaceful but weird' moment with Kevin Spacey on the set of 'American Beauty' when he had her lay on a bed with him

• In her new memoir, "The Great Peace," Mena Suvari recalls a "weird" moment with Kevin Spacey.
• She said he brought her into a room with a bed on the "American Beauty" set and he held her on it.
• "I didn't know how far he was going to take it," she wrote in the book.

Mena Suvari recently opened up about a moment she shared with Kevin Spacey on the set of "American Beauty" over 20 years ago.

In her upcoming memoir "The Great Peace" (on sale beginning July 27), the actress, who rose to fame starring in such movies as the 1999 comedy "American Pie" and the same year's Oscar-winning "American Beauty," recalled a moment on the set of "Beauty" when Spacey led her into a private room between shooting.

"Kevin took me into a small room with a bed and we laid next to each other, me facing toward him while he held me lightly," Suvari, who was 20 years old at the time, wrote in her new book.

In the movie, Suvari plays high schooler Angela and Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a much older married man who is infatuated with her. Angela and Lester share an intimate moment in his living room, and Suvari explained that this behind-the-scenes moment with Spacey happened before they shot that scene.

"I wasn't sure if Kevin was interested in me or not," Suvari went on to write. "My head immediately went to that place, and I didn't know how far he was going to take it or how I was going to react if he did go there."

She continued: "But he didn't. We just lay there, getting close and comfortable, and it was such a genius move on his part. When we shot the scene together on the sofa, I was in a whole other headspace, and in the moment when Lester caresses Angela and tells her she is beautiful and special, I believed him."

Insider reached out to Spacey's representative for comment but didn't immediately get a response.

"American Beauty," which focuses on a family (starring Spacey and Annette Bening as the parents and Thora Birch as their daughter) in a downward spiral, went on to become a surprise hit in 1999 and win five Oscars, including best picture and best actor for Spacey.

In a recent interview with People, Suvari said she has thought back on the day she was held by Spacey (now calling it "peaceful but weird and unusual") after he was accused by several men of sexual misconduct back in 2017.

"My heart goes out to anyone who suffers abuse," Suvari told People.

In her memoir, Suvari, now 42, opens up about her own sexual abuse and drug addiction, including being raped when she was in sixth grade and later experimenting with drugs as a teenager in Los Angeles' rave scene.

Suvari said working on movies like "American Beauty" were the happy moments for her during that time in her life.

"Despite the extremes of my character and the vulnerability required of me, the moments of flirtation and sexual energy that bookended the tears... I actually had fun playing Angela," Suvari wrote in her book.

Following the sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey that led to him being fired from Netflix's "House of Cards," Spacey is attempting a comeback. He was recently cast in the Italian film "L'uomo Che Disegno Dio" (The Man Who Drew God).

In June, a federal judge dismissed all claims by one of two men suing Spacey over sexual misconduct in the 1980s after the accuser refused to identify himself publicly.

The other plaintiff is actor Anthony Rapp, the first accuser to come forward in 2017, who alleged that Spacey made unwanted sexual advances toward him at Spacey's home in 1986, when Rapp was 14.

Spacey, 61, has denied Rapp's sexual misconduct accusations.