Its been 25 years since Kevin Spacey was last in a weekly role on a television series, when he made CBS viewers sit up, take notice, and ask, Who the heck is that guy? with his performance as Wiseguy villain Mel Profitt, a charismatic crime boss with an unhealthy relationship with his sister and a drug addiction he hid by shooting up between his toes. (The toes knows, he would say while giggling, in a line I can still hear in my head a quarter century later.)
Technically, the two-time Oscar winner still hasnt returned to television, as his newest role as Francis Underwood, the ruthless, silver-tongued House Majority Whip in the new political drama House of Cards is appearing exclusively as part of Netflixs streaming video service. (All 13 episodes of the first season will be posted on Friday, Feb. 1.) But the series was made in the style of a premium cable drama, even though Spacey, writer Beau Willimon (adapting the early 90s British miniseries of the same name, which starred Ian Richardson as Francis), director David Fincher and much of the cast (notably Robin Wright as Francis calculating wife Claire) have little to no experience working in television.
I spoke with Spacey about his return to the format that launched his career, the advantage of playing the same character over a long period of time, and more.
