LOS ANGELES (Web Desk) – House of Cards star Kevin Spacey has denied that the show is putting people off politics.
The BBC’s Andrew Marr asked the actor whether his portrayal of “a murderer, an adulterer, a blackmailer – a seriously bad guy” in the US series put people off voting.
Spacey, who plays US politician Frank Underwood in the series, claimed it has made viewers “understand politics”.
He said the morality of the characters was for “for others to judge”.
Mr Spacey spoke to the Andrew Marr Show ahead of the UK general election, which takes place on 7 May.
On the same programme, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman complained about “negative campaigning” and claimed that it “turns people off”.
Andrew Marr asked if the characters in Netflix’s US remake of the 1990s BBC drama put people off politics.
The actor replied: “I think it’s really making them understand politics in ways that they, perhaps, never had before.”
He added: “Yes, we want to be entertaining and yes, we want to feel like it’s an accurate depiction of the things and the processes that people go through.
“The choices that people make and the morals of it, I’ll leave for others to judge, because I can’t judge the characters I play – I just have to play them.”
The US actor, who is to step down after 11 years as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London, was also asked how his old friend Bill Clinton had reacted to the show.
Impersonating the former President, Mr Spacey said: “Ninety-nine per cent of what they do on that show is real, and the 1% they got wrong? You could never get an education bill passed that fast.”
Some US newspapers had thought that was a genuine Clinton quote, he claimed.
