Kevin Spacey on how the high-risk project House of Cards became a huge hit for Netflix

Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood in House of Cards. David Giesbrecht / Netflix

Kevin Spacey has been pondering the similarities between the twists and turns in the real-life US presidential race and those in House of Cards, the Netflix political drama in which he stars. Spacey plays double-dealing US president Francis Underwood, who in the fourth season – which is currently being broadcast in the UAE on OSN First HD – is in the midst of his own re-election campaign.

“We just need to remember that Francis is a fictional character,” says Spacey, when asked about the relationship between real-life politics and the show’s imaginary version.

“Some of the candidates running in real life appear to be fictional characters, too.

“It’s interesting to see the parallel universe that we always intended, knowing there will be an election parallel to the one on the show. It’s been interesting for audiences everywhere to see how we expose things in our programme.”

Underwood is a dastardly character, whose quest for power knows no bounds. Keeping him believable while he schemes and carries out despicable acts is a constant balancing act.

“There are many times when we’ll finish shooting a sequence ... and I’ll leave the set and go to my room and I will wonder, ‘Have we gone too far? Have we crossed the Rubicon? Is there something we’ve done that feels unreal or unbelievable?’” says Spacey.

“Then I turn on the television and I watch the news and I think, ‘We haven’t gone far enough’.”

While the political situation in the US is particularly ripe for analysis and adaptation right now, Spacey says the type of political subterfuge and manoeuvring that makes House of Cards so enjoyable is not limited to America.

“The show seems to cross borders,” he says. “It’s become so big in so many countries. I don’t think that’s only because people are fascinated with US politics, but because the politics of life are all over world. I did a film in China a few years ago and I could walk down the street with its star Daniel Wu. He’s a huge star over there – it’s like walking down the street with Tom Cruise. Next to him everyone just thought I was his bodyguard or something.

"But then, more recently, I went to Macau and walked on stage and it was like some rock star had walked on stage. About 300 Chinese rushed the stage and spent the whole concert taking selfies with me in the background. I got back to my hotel and asked some friends, 'What has happened?' They said, 'House of Cards. It's huge in China'."

China might seem a strange place for such a biting political drama to become a hit, given the strict controls exerted by the authorities there – and the fact that it is one of few countries where Netflix remains unavailable. But Spacey had a further revelation.

“I had heard, and understand totally, that many members of the Chinese government are fans,” he says. “But my friends told me that for the common man in China, Francis is perceived as someone fighting corruption. That took a while to get my head around.”

House of Cards is a huge global hit, rewarded with armfuls of awards. But before its debut in 2013, it was seen as a high-risk project.

The show was based on an acclaimed but relatively unknown 1990s BBC drama, which was adapted from novels written by Michael Dobbs, a former chief of staff at the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party headquarters.

It also marked Netflix’s first foray into producing original content, and the first time that an entire season of a show was released all at once, allowing for immediate binge-viewing.

Even with Hollywood A-listers in the lead roles – Robin Wright playing Underwood’s wife, Claire – it is not surprising that traditional broadcasters were sceptical.

“When we had the idea, [film director and the show’s executive producer] David Fincher, [creator] Beau Willimon and I pitched it to every network,” says Spacey.

“Every network loved the idea, and every network was really engaged and wanted to do it.

“But every network insisted we do a pilot. Every network except one. Netflix just seemed to know that audiences would want to see a political drama with myself and David Fincher involved and said, ‘No, we don’t want you to do a pilot. How many do you want to do?’ So we were like, ‘Err, two seasons..?’”

As one of the driving forces behind the show, Spacey is well aware of the changes taking place in the increasingly interconnected TV and film industries, for which House of Cards is at least partly responsible. "It made perfect sense to me that, having established itself as a portal for content, Netflix would eventually decide it would have to start making original content to compete," he says.

“So it didn’t surprise me that they stepped forward. What surprised me was that they stepped forward with such a big commitment and gave us, as creators, a really long runway to tell the complex story we wanted to tell.”

Following a relatively low-key, in Hollywood terms, 10 years during which he stepped back from the big screen and moved to London to serve as artistic director of The Old Vic theatre company, Spacey says that Underwood was the perfect character to lure him back to a starring role.

“Francis is one of the most remarkable characters I’ve had the pleasure to play,” he says. “Every season, I learn new things about him and all his relationships – and even his relationship with the audience.

"I'm so grateful for the experiences I had before taking on Francis. I had the chance to play Richard III [in a touring Old Vic production of the Shakespeare classic, directed by his American Beauty director Sam Mendes]. Richard was a big influence on Francis Urquhart in the British original show, House of Cards.

"That and the work I did at the Old Vic for 10 years before we started House of Cards were really important in helping me grow as an actor. I know many people probably believe 'direct address' [where characters talk directly to the viewer] was invented by Ferris Bueller, but it was in fact invented by Shakespeare in Richard III.

"It's different to monologue, where a character speaks to the whole audience. With direct address, such as Francis and Richard III do, I'm speaking to individual members of the audience.

"I had that experience of taking Richard III around whole world and looking into the eyes of audiences in Asia, in Turkey, London, New York – it was a remarkable experience to see how much audiences dig being in the know, that sense of complicity, of being in on the private thoughts of this man, Richard or Francis.

"But that Richard III was vital – there's no way I could have played Francis 10 years ago without that."

Kevin Spacey timeline

1959

Born in New Jersey, US, to an English/Welsh/Swedish family.

1979

Enrols at New York’s Juillard School to study drama. Subsidises his studies by performing stand-up comedy in bowling alleys.

1981

Makes his first professional stage appearance in a New York Theatre Festival performance of Henry I, Part I – as a spear carrier.

1986

Cast alongside Jack Lemmon in Jonathan Miller's acclaimed production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. Spacey told Parade magazine that Lemmon had become his mentor.

1992

It wasn't his first film, but Spacey's movie profile rises with his role as the unlikeable office manager in Glengarry Glen Ross, James Foley's (a regular director of House of Cards) big-screen adaptation of playwright David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer-winning expose of real-estate salesmen. His co-stars included Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce and Alec Baldwin

1995

Spacey really hits the big time with acclaimed roles in Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects, as small-time criminal Verbal Kint, and in David Fincher's Seven, in an uncredited but key role.

2000

Wins a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Sam Mendes' American Beauty (1999).

2003

One of the most bankable actors in Hollywood, Spacey announces he is to take a break from movies – though he makes occasional appearances in supporting and cameo roles – and moves to London to become the artistic director of The Old Vic, one of the oldest theatres in the world. He re-establishes himself as one of the world's leading theatre actors. He reunites with director Sam Mendes for a 2011 production of Shakespeare's Richard III, which tours the world for more than six months.

2013

Returns to Hollywood in House of Cards, a Netflix adaptation of the 1990s BBC drama of the same name. Season 4 debuted last month.

2015

Visits Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts for a special project to inspire actors and promote theatre in the region. “I’ve always had a particular interest in this region – all the changes happening here – and I’ve done workshops and trips to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Beirut and beyond.”

• Season 4 of House of Cards is currently screening on Sunday nights on OSN First HD. Previous seasons are available on demand in the UAE on Netflix