Showbiz411

Exclusive: one of the many things we learned last night at the premiere of Netflix’s wonderful first “TV series” called “House of Cards”: “Rampart” director Oren Moverman has picked up the rights to famed graffiti artist Keith Haring’s life. A script is being written, and the plan is for talented young actor Ben Foster (“The Messenger,” “3:10 to Yuma,” etc) to play Haring. This could be a great great idea. Foster just had two hits in Sundance–”Ain’t them Bodies Saints” and “Kill Your Darlings”–). He and Moverman were at the “Cards” premiere cheering on actress Robin Wright (yes, Ben and Robin are an “item”) who is sort of mesmerizing with Kevin Spacey in the two episodes that were shown last night at Alice Tully Hall.

Whew. Did you get all that?

Foster and Moverman were among the many A listers in the big crowd at Alice Tully last night, all taking in the first ever Tv series not for TV or cable but for what? Pay-viewing, I guess. Netflix is coming on strong with several series over the next few months including the return of “Arrested Development.” Big time movie maker David Fincher directed the first two episodes of “House of Cards” and they are chilling and fascinating. Spacey and Wright are a Washington power couple–he’s a conniving, ambitious congressman. She runs a charitable foundation that helps get water to dry places. They are either LBJ and Lady Bird, or MacBeth and the Mrs.

In the crowd last were the great Kate Mulgrew, set to star in another Netflix series, “Orange is the New Black,” as well as Lily Rabe, Steven Soderbergh, Harvey Weinstein, George Stephanopolous (who appears as himself in the film), co-stars Kate Mara, Jayne Atkinson and Corey Stoll and Constance Zimmer, script writer Beau Willamon (who also wrote “Ides of March”), plus the great Joanne Horowitz (who runs the Spacey world).

And Kate Mara, who’s so good in “House of Cards” as a savvy reporter, got support from sister Rooney Mara, who premieres tonight with Jude Law in “Side Effects.” The girls’ family were all there, and their brother showed me his solid gold Super Bowl ring from a couple of seasons ago. You do know the Maras co-own the New York Giants.

“House of Cards” is available starting on Friday via Netflix. Don’t miss it. Get a smart TV that comes with Netflix, order the DVDs through Netflix, or buy one of those Roku boxes (that’s what I’m going to do). This isn’t the future–the future is here, as Harvey Weinstein said last night. Let’s get with the programs.

photo via PopShop

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.