It was kind of a bummer holiday for many this year, but there was one piece of news that was almost weird enough to make one briefly forget that the president stiffed hundreds of thousands of government employees out of a paycheck in an attempt to get his $5 billion border wall: On Christmas Eve, the same day it was revealed he’d be arraigned on sexual misconduct charges, Kevin Spacey released a bizarre House of Cards video in which he resurrected the late Frank Underwood.
It was deeply, troublingly strange, and it will be a boon to psychologists on future papers. But it’s also been a boon to comedy. Actor and Twitter wit James Urbaniak chipped in with the above parody video, which adds a faux-director’s commentary to a video that was clearly not just Spacey setting up a camera in his empty home and hitting record.
Urbaniak narrates as Skip Solomon, a “videographer” who often shoots “weddings, high school plays, gender reveal parties.” In the commentary, he says Spacey approached him four days before Christmas, saying he wanted a “Christmas release” in an attempt to “get ahead” of some news story.
Urbaniak’s character seems to have no idea about the allegations that have plagued Spacey since fall of 2017, which were among the stories that kickstarted the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
Solomon did, however, know the man’s work — House of Cards aside. When Spacey first contacted him, he says he had to verify that it was him. “I said, ‘If this is really Kevin Spacey, what is the name of your character in K-Pax,” Urbaniak-as-Solomon says. “Without a pause, he said ‘Prot.’ And he clearly hadn’t Googled.”
Solomon says he handled everything beyond the acting, from set dressing to cinematography to the sound design that creates the illusion that there a party’s worth of people who want to hang with the two-time Oscar-winning actor in 2018. He also waxes poetic about the aesthetics, pointing out that it was all one-take, no cuts.
“I’m a huge fan of Orson Welles, particularly Touch of Evil, where he has some really magnificent, long, uncut scenes. It gives the mise-en-scène such energy,” he explains.
Solomon also says his girlfriend elected to handle catering, but after showing up and seeing Spacey there, she left both the shoot and him.
Meanwhile, in real life, Spacey is trying to get out of showing up in person for his arraignment.