Joel Kinnaman’s portrayal of a powerful man losing control in the seriesHouse of Cardsis a dramatic change from the roles he is most famous for playing. Kinnaman is usually known as an action star:he has played the title role inRoboCop, Rick Flag in bothSuicide Squadmovies, and Takeshi Kovacs in the Netflix seriesAltered Carbon,among many other characters in the action and sci-fi genres. The widespread success of these projects can mean that some ofKinnaman’s more understated work has been overlooked, and the biggest of these is his role inHouse of Cards.
Kinnaman conveys the character’s inner turmoil and instability without veering into ‘comic book action’ territory.
House of Cardsseason 5 centers on the rigged electionof the formidable President Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, as his marriage crumbles from within. The series includes plenty of smart and powerful characters, all trying to take down the corrupt Underwoods, but there is little action in the style of, for example,RoboCop. InHouse of Cards,power dynamics shift through subtle dialogue, body language, and the occasional murder. Here,Kinnaman plays Republican presidential candidate Will Conway, who is out of his depth and beginning to spiral.
House Of Cards’ Will Conway Is One Of Joel Kinnaman’s Best Performances
Kinnaman Demonstrates His More Understated Acting Range While Playing Will Conway
New Yorker Will Conway appears to be a young all-American hero, with military experience, a family, and moral values. However, Conway is also arrogant, image-obsessed, and easily susceptible to stress. Asevents inHouse of Cardsseason 5develop and the negative aspects of his character are amplified,Conway’s facade starts to break down and Kinnaman’s performance adapts. He toldThe Hollywood Reporter, “You get to go to his dark place… it’s actually more fun to play a character that’s unraveling.“Kinnaman conveys Conway’s turmoil and instability without veering into ‘comic book action’ territory, even when Conway hijacks a plane.
Joel Kinnaman began filming season 4 ofHouse of Cardsjust five days after finishingSuicide Squad.
The situations inHouse of Cardsrequire mental resilience over physical strength, so when Conway finds that flexing his political muscles does not always work, Kinnaman uses silence to create tension, as the audience knows that this character can be unpredictable. Over time, we see that Conway’s charm and confidence are a mask, and it slips more frequently throughout his character arc inHouse of Cards.Kinnaman uses subtle gestures and facial expressions to convey Conway’s barely-contained frustration, fear, and rage, sometimes within the same scene. This skill likely helped Kinnaman later in hisdialogue-free movieSilent Night.
Kinnaman’s House Of Cards Character Was Very Different From His Other Major Roles
Playing Will Conway May Have Influenced Kinnaman’s Portrayal Of A Silent Character
Kinnaman is great at conveying physical strength and resolve, as he shows in his roles likeRoboCopandSuicide Squad, but the action genre usually has less room for subtlety, prioritizing stunts and quips instead.The restraint he displays inHouse of Cardswould not have worked in many of his major roles, when Kinnaman plays a super-soldier or vigilante, like Takeshi Kovacs, the protagonist he plays inAltered Carbon, season 1.House of Cards’s Conway is almost the opposite – a troubled man on the edge of breaking point, but with the appearance of a charming hero.
In the John Woo movieSilent Night,Kinnaman plays nonverbal character Brian, who is on a revenge mission after his vocal cords are damaged, and his young son is killed in a drive-by shooting. This role challenges Kinnaman and allows him to continue demonstrating his more subtle acting talents, just as he did inHouse of Cards.This dialogue-free acting ability was essential for the role of Conway, whose emotions had to be believable even as he tried to hide them, and is just as necessary toJoel Kinnamanwhile playing Brian, who must express himself without dialogue.
