The American series "House of Cards", whose actors are known for their roles in the big movie, appeared in 2013. Since then, each new franchise season has enjoyed continued popularity among viewers.
Frank Underwood
The main character during the development of the whole plot is Frank Underwood. He appears in every episode of the House of Cards series. Supporting actors vary from season to season, although among them there are permanent actors.
Underwood was played by Kevin Spacey. During his career, he received an Oscar twice and starred in the largest blockbusters of American cinema. In the series as the main character, he did not appear before. But the House of Cards is exceptional. After the announcement of the cast, the audience realized that she was waiting for an unprecedented spectacle.
The character of the protagonist
At the beginning of the story, Underwood is a senator from the US Democratic Party. Throughout the series, his career growth is shown. First, he becomes vice president, and then the president of the country. But the whole splendor of the “house” lies precisely in the fact that Underwood is doing its job thanks to completely non-democratic methods adopted in the United States.
Underwood is a cunning schemer. He is characterized by composure, which helps him succeed in the most unexpected and difficult situations. The senator skillfully plays on the passions and interests of others in order to pit them and make them do what he needs. Many critics noted that Underwood would have been a great character in the Italian writer Machiavelli. This Florentine Renaissance diplomat is known for his treatise The Sovereign, in which he described just such a psychotype of the behavior of a politician. “The end justifies the means” - this is the main motto of an ambitious senator from South Carolina. It is he who makes the “House of Cards” so interesting and exciting. Actors playing other characters, however, also deserve attention.
Claire Underwood
Robin Wright played Frank's wife, Claire Underwood. The wife is very similar to her husband. She is purposeful and also not burdened with moral principles when it comes to the implementation of far-reaching plans. At the beginning of the series, Claire is president of the Washington Charity Foundation. When Frank began to occupy leadership positions in the state, his wife also found herself in global politics.
In the third season, Claire became the US ambassador to the UN. She owns a lot of actions that abruptly changed the plot of the series “House of Cards”. Actors and supporting characters are also, in some cases, cynics and pragmatists, but they are far from the couple of the Underwoods.
Zoe Barnes
The young movie star Kate Mara was played by journalist Zoe Barnes. She appears in the first two seasons of the series “House of Cards”. Actors and supporting roles in this franchise, as a rule, do not linger on the screen for a long time. So Barnes, who was first one of the central characters, was removed by scriptwriters who decided to kill her with Frank Underwood himself.
In the first episodes, Zoe collaborated with the senator, helping him arrange convenient and useful leaks in the metropolitan press. Using this method, Underwood got rid of his enemies and increased his popularity through competent PR.
Many of Frank's ingenious moves have become the highlight of the program in the series. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 2015, Kevin Spacey received the Golden Globe for his successful and convincing role.
Peter Russo
Some actors in the series “House of Cards” (like Zoe) become involuntary victims of Frank. Such, for example, was Congressman Peter Russo (played by Corey Stoll). This politician has a rather ambiguous biography. During the series, he struggles with bouts of alcoholism and drug addiction.
Young Russo became a convenient tool in various machinations of Underwood, who blackmailed him with threats to tell voters the truth about his bad habits. Between these characters a complex relationship is struck up, which either becomes enmity, or turns into a strong alliance. This is notable for the film "House of Cards." Actors play characters that are difficult to attribute to the usual categories of bad and good guys. Each hero has his skeleton in the closet. Periodically, secrets and hidden motives break out, making the plot only more interesting and twisted.
Other features of the series
"House of Cards" has become a significant event for the entire industry of American TV shows. Firstly, the fact is that he never went on television. The creators decided to use the new content distribution system. The Netflix network video service has become such an effective tool (replacing television channels).
This project began in the 90s as a movie rental company. When each American had his own Internet connection, the service owners decided to "move" to the Network. Here Netdlix began to distribute unique content, including TV shows.
One of the first major ones was just the House of Cards. Actors (season 3 was released in 2015) now show off not on TV with interruptions in advertising, but play on the screens of user computers and laptops. "House of Cards" can be freely downloaded on the Internet. The creators of the series decided not to fight piracy (which would be a waste of power). Instead, they, on the contrary, created all conditions so that the viewer from anywhere in the world could get the next franchise season without any obstacles.
In the end, it is worth mentioning that the director of the first series and the inspirer of the whole project is the famous David Fincher. In 1995, he shot the blockbuster Seven, in which Kevin Spacey played one of the main roles.