who had done TV for a long time, and they’ re like,“ If you kill a dog within the first 30 seconds, you’ re going to lose half your viewership. You can kill as many human beings as you want, but kill an animal? It’ ll turn people off.” David [ Fincher, who directed the first two episodes ] and I agreed that people who are going to turn off at that moment are not our audience anyway.
What do people in D. C. think about the show?
A lot of people have to watch it just so they can be part of the conversation. I don’ t know how I feel about that. A lot of people I know are biased because they know me, but some of these hardened D. C. journalists who know the world better than anyone feel like it’ s one of the most authentic portrayals of that world that they’ ve seen.
There are other people in D. C. that are just going to decide that it’ s all totally bogus and things don’ t happen this way. They’ re wrong, because I know from first-hand experience.
What do you mean?
We don’ t f--k around. We do our research. We do break the rules sometimes, but we know which rules we’ re breaking, and you have to for the sake of drama. Technically, in Pennsylvania, if the governor left to be vice president, the lieutenant governor would just become governor until the next regularly scheduled election.
However, in West Virginia it would be a special election. In“ House of Cards”-land, are we taking West Virginia’ s rules and putting them in Pennsylvania? Yeah. Does it matter? No.
Did you look at how other political shows were treated for accuracy?
I honestly wasn’ t reading all the commentary and stuff when“ The West Wing” was on. I was just a viewer that enjoyed the show. But the idea that the West Wing comprised about seven people who did everything, where your press secretary is also your communications director is also a senior advisor is also …
The amount of conflation and simplification that happened there was insane, you know? And yet there are a lot of things they did right. It was a noble fantasy, good people doing good things. I’ m an Aaron Sorkin fan. I deeply respect his writing.
Have there been critiques of your show that you felt were unfair?
No. Everything’ s fair game. People in D. C. are so psyched when anyone dramatizes them in an exciting way. They’ re a lot more open to looking at the nastier side of themselves than the media is. And one of the arguments the show is making is that all these worlds are the same. If you really think that ambition, power, lust, desire are not as applicable in the media as in politics or on Wall Street or anywhere else, you’ re deluding yourself.
Do you find your characters likeable?
You’ ll hear time and time again in the TV industry about likeability. I say,“ F--likeability.” I don’ t give a s--- whether anyone likes my characters. I do give a s--- whether they’ re attracted to them, and those are two fundamentally different things. Because the most interesting characters-- Shakespeare is a great example of this-- are not likeable. Richard III is not likeable. Macbeth is not likeable. Hamlet is not likeable. And yet you can’ t take your eyes off them. I’ m far more interested in that than I am in any sort of likeability.
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