He’s currently busy making Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara run through thousands of takes on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Sweden, but David Fincher has his eye on our TV screens. He’s involved with getting a US version of acclaimed 1990s miniseries House of Cards up and running and Kevin Spacey (who was a producer on The Social Network) has jumped aboard to both act as executive producer and star as a scheming politician.
House of Cards began life as Michael Dobbs’ novel, the first in a trilogy written by the former Conservative chief of staff and peppered with deep, dark observations about how politics here really works. Ian Richardson starred as chief whip Francis Urquhart (note those initials), a sinister, smart and backstabbing sort who will do anything to achieve his ambitions. Adapted for TV by Andrew Davies, it won a BAFTA for Richardson and scored an Emmy for Davies, and was followed by To Play the King and The Final Cut.
Now former political operative Beau Willimon (whose play Farragut North is now being turned into **The Ides of March **by George Clooney) has written a version that transplants the tale to America. Spacey sounds like a fine choice for the lead, since he can play smarmy, slimy, charming evil with ease.
And Fincher will be making the jump to TV for this one, directing the pilot to set the tone for any eventual series. That part will be up to the networks, as the team has yet to pitch the package to anyone. But do you really think the TV executives will be able to turn down a show with a Fincher-crafted pilot and Kevin Spacey in the lead? Cross your fingers for one of the bigger US cable channels like HBO or Showtime so this one gets the chance to be as nasty as possible. Must-see TV? You might very well think that - but we couldn't possibly comment.