Diane Lane talks "House Of Cards" without Kevin Spacey
"How do you do a show about Godzilla but you can't see Godzilla?" That's how Diane Lane describes the dilemma "House Of Cards" writers faced when it was announced that the series' leading man, Kevin Spacey, was leaving the show mid-production following allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Oscar-nominated actress, who joined the cast of the popular Netflix series for its sixth season, told "CBS This Morning" everyone involved in the show can remember exactly where they were when they heard the news.
"I was filming on another show called 'The Romanoffs,'" Lane said. "It was a big scene, we were in a church and everybody was staring at me and talking and they're looking at their phones. At a certain moment I started to feel paranoid. I didn't know what was going on. And they all came over to me and suddenly one was brave enough to say the show has been canceled and I said 'Excuse me?'"
The show would instead go on to finish its sixth season without the ruthless character it had revolved around for five seasons, Frank Underwood. It became an "extraordinary game of Jenga for the writers," said Lane, who offered assurances that the writers not only did a "beautiful" job of wrapping up the story, even with that wrench thrown into the process, but that what they came up with exceeds today's real headlines.
"With the zeitgeist of current events and politics and this show having used to be so shocking and now the writers have to – and they have – successfully exceeded the headlines, which, I mean, that's an achievement."
The final season sees Claire Underwood, first lady-turned-commander-in-chief, in the seat of power and Frank six feet under. Lane portrays Annette, who runs her family's powerful conglomerate and has a shared history with the new president, portrayed by Robin Wright.
The final season premieres on Netflix Friday, Nov. 2