House of Cards star Kevin Spacey has been tapped to play prolific writer Gore Vidal in a new Netflix original biopic, Variety reports. The film is currently shooting in Italy, where Vidal spent much of his life.

It’s commonly known that Vidal, who died in 2012 at the age of 86, had a 53-year relationship with partner Howard Austen. However, the celebrated writer never came out as gay and largely refused to be defined by his sexuality.

Tim Teeman, author of In Bed With Gore Vidal: Hustlers, Hollywood, and the Private World of an American Master, writes that while Vidal would claim to be bisexual, his early relationships with women were nonsexual. Vidal, who reportedly indulged in male hustlers, was also said to believe in “gay sexual acts,” not gay people.

It’s also worth noting that The City and the Pillar, which Vidal published in 1948, was one of the first modern gay-themed novels. He also supported sexual freedom and equality in his many essays.

Like Vidal, Spacey has also been notoriously cagey about his sexuality in the press. Gay rumors have swirled around the Oscar-winning actor for decades, particularly following an infamous 1997 Esquire profile titled “Kevin Spacey Has a Secret.”

More recently, Andy Cohen “outed” Spacey in his 2014 memoir, and a New York Times reporter boldly poked fun at Spacey’s perceived sexuality with snarky tweets in 2015.

Spacey seemed to be addressing those gay rumors last month while hosting the 2017 Tony Awards. “I’m coming out,” he sang while dressed as Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond, before pausing—"no, wait, no"—and switching gears.

About 25 years ago, when Larry Kramer famously confronted Vidal about his sexuality in a 1992 interview, Vidal told the outspoken activist that he didn’t “believe” in homosexuality, Teeman recalls.

“But Gore, you are gay,” Kramer told him. “We just want you, whole-heartedly and full-blown—if you’ll pardon the pun—on our team.”

“I am on your team,” Vidal said. “After all, I’ve been there all along.”

Kevin Sessums similarly grilled Spacey in a 2010 interview with The Daily Beast. "We gay men have always proudly claimed you as a member of our tribe, and yet you don't proudly claim us back," he told Spacey. "Why?"

"People have different reasons for the way they live their lives,” Spacey replied. "I don't live a lie. You have to understand that people who choose not to discuss their personal lives are not living a lie.”