美国国家公共电台 NPR 'House Of Cards' Stands Without Spacey, As Claire Underwood Brings Closure

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So in the final season of the hit Netflix series "House Of Cards," Francis Underwood is dead, and the spotlight¹ now turns to Claire Underwood, the first woman president of the United States. She's played by Robin² Wright.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOUSE OF CARDS")

ROBIN WRIGHT: (As Claire Underwood) My first 100 days as president have been difficult. I lost my husband.

GREG KINNEAR: (As Cody Fern) Your husband and I had an agreement.

WRIGHT: (As Claire Underwood) Francis is dead.

KINNEAR: (As Cody Fern) Promises were made.

WRIGHT: (As Claire Underwood) Not by me. Here's the thing. Whatever Francis told you the last five years, don't believe a word of it.

GREENE: Now, the death of her husband was a rewrite. The showrunners, Frank Pugliese and Melissa James Gibson, had to re-envision their Emmy Award-winning show after Kevin Spacey, who played Francis Underwood, was accused of sexual harassment⁴ and assault last year. They were determined⁵ to continue "House Of Cards" without him. Robin Wright, Frank Pugliese and Melissa James Gibson all sat down together in our studios in New York City to talk with Rachel Martin.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Robin, if I could ask you about the allegations, who told you? Or did you find out in the press?

WRIGHT: Yeah. Yeah, we all found out through the press. And, you know, of course, shock and surprise and then you're pulverized⁶ as a team. What's the moral and ethical⁷ thing to do? And they made an executive decision, MRC and Netflix, and all of us, deciding to close out this beautifully operatic show. And what it also would've meant to shut down is that we would've been putting almost 2,000 people out of a job in the state of Maryland, where we shoot. And that was security that people were dependent on.

MARTIN: Did you essentially⁸ have to go back to square one? I mean, how much had you already started to think about the upcoming season, or even - I think I read you'd started shooting it, right? Melissa. I'll put you on spot.

MELISSA JAMES GIBSON: We had started shooting it. And we'd thought it through, really - boy, just about the whole thing (laughter). But all of the DNA⁹ was there. You know, Season 5 ended with Robin's character, Claire, turning to the camera and saying, my turn. So that was indeed what we continued to serve and explore.

FRANK PUGLIESE: And I will say just because the character Francis Underwood is not on the screen doesn't mean his essence is not on the screen, and it doesn't mean that it's not still being dealt with. And in his absence became a dramatic opportunity to see who would try to fill that space.

GIBSON: Right. We knew to deny the existence of Francis Underwood would be dishonest, you know, to the history of the show. There's no way that Claire isn't in dialogue with her past with him as she's forging a future for herself.

MARTIN: And she may be comfortable in this position, but others around her are not. And there is this scene early on when Greg Kinnear's character, this D.C. powerbroker, he has cajoled Claire, President Underwood, into signing a bill. And when she finally agrees, he physically¹⁰ grabs her hand and covers it with his as she signs it. And I found this so disturbing to watch (laughter), maybe because of everything else that's around the show, but, like, this idea that he feels he could manipulate her. What was that scene like for you, Robin?

WRIGHT: There was a lot of discussion around that, remember, where Robin - would she ever let him do it? And the decision behind saying, yes, let him do that, was because in politics, and what so much the backbone¹¹ of this show is about is, you always have to sacrifice something to get what you want.

PUGLIESE: I mean, we always knew that we wanted this season to be an exploration of who owns the White House. So no matter what - and that was a physical manifestation¹² of a theme we were working on.

GIBSON: And, you know...

MARTIN: Melissa?

GIBSON: ...Is this country, (laughter), you know, within the world of the show, ready for a female president?

MARTIN: If I could ask you, Robin, just about your relationship with Kevin Spacey. You've talked about it before as something that was a professional relationship. You didn't really know him socially, but you told Variety last month, and I'm quoting here, that you "feel sorry for anybody whose life is in the public arena," that you hate that part of the industry. And you also said you believe in second chances. Do you still feel that way about Hollywood writ³ large and about Kevin Spacey?

WRIGHT: Yes. I hate what the media does with our sentiments and our words. And I didn't say just that sentence. This is the problem, (laughter), with being extracted. You know, that's one sentence out of a paragraph that I said. I said I believe when people do the work and they reform, I think everybody has the ability to do that - do the work and reform. That's what I said. And in that instance then you should be given a second chance in life if there's true change that occurs.

So I wasn't pinpointing¹³ any specific human being. I was talking about humankind and their abilities. So when I was paraphrased¹⁴, I've just decided¹⁵ to not comment anymore because I'm so sick of being taken out of context, and then that's being insensitive to victims out there that I'm not insensitive to.

MARTIN: As you all move away from this project, what have you learned from this show, these characters?

WRIGHT: Normally, you're making a movie for six, eight, 10 weeks, and then you say goodbye to those people. This was a six-year relationship that we had. We spent more time with each other than we did our own families. And people would come on set, and they'd walk off and they were like, wow. It's palpable how close everyone is. You can feel how everyone has each other's back. They just want all of you to do the best work.

I mean, we would crack up after certain scenes, the lines that you guys would write. And we were like, we just actually said that (laughter)? That line came out of my mouth? I can't believe it. It was fun.

MARTIN: The last day of shooting, I imagine, was full of a lot of emotions.

WRIGHT: It was the jumping up and down and sobbing¹⁶ at the same time.

PUGLIESE: Yeah.

WRIGHT: 'Cause it's good to put characters to bed. I'm sure it's the same for you guys as writers, right?

PUGLIESE: Yeah, but that night, nobody wanted to go to bed.

GIBSON: Nobody did go to bed.

(LAUGHTER)

PUGLIESE: People did not want to leave the set. It wasn't till daybreak that people actually finally left 'cause we just didn't want to go.

MARTIN: Well, it has been a pleasure talking with the three of you.

WRIGHT: Thank you.

GIBSON: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF "'HOUSE OF CARDS' (MAIN TITLE THEME)" )

GREENE: That was our co-host Rachel Martin speaking with Robin Wright, who stars in the Netflix show, "House Of Cards." She was also joined by the showrunners, Frank Pugliese and Melissa James Gibson.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

4 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 pulverized   

adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎

参考例句：

• We pulverized the opposition. 我们彻底击败了对手。
• He pulverized the opposition with the force of his oratory. 他能言善辩把对方驳得体无完肤。 来自辞典例句

7 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

10 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

11 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

12 manifestation   

n.表现形式；表明；现象

参考例句：

• Her smile is a manifestation of joy.她的微笑是她快乐的表现。
• What we call mass is only another manifestation of energy.我们称之为质量的东西只是能量的另一种表现形态。

13 pinpointing   

准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的现在分词 )； 为…准确定位

参考例句：

• The difficulty of pinpointing primitive and derived characters remains. 要正确地指出原始性状和次生性状仍然感到困难。
• Pinpointing the true source of power in Japan is a notoriously slippery task. 要准确指出日本真正的权力来源，是一项非常困难的任务。

14 paraphrased   

v.释义，意译( paraphrase的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Baxter paraphrased the contents of the press release. 巴克斯特解释了新闻稿的内容。 来自辞典例句
• It is paraphrased from the original. 它是由原文改述的。 来自辞典例句

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。