Agnieszka Holland, the famed Polish director, is to realise several episodes of the 3rd season of House of Cards, one of the most successful American political series. To what extent will Holland's style be reflected in the upcoming Netflix release?

House of Cards is another prestigious TV show which Agnieszka Holland has had the opportunity to work on. The director of Fever (1981) previously worked on several episodes of The Killing, Treme, and Burning Bush, as well as The Wire, which is considered one of the best series in the history of television.

It is a cult series for young filmmakers. In fact, it seems much more impressive than getting an Oscar nomination to many film school students - says Holland.

In an interview with Culture.pl, Holland added that participating in the production of TV series lets her learn a new sort of film language.

I get older but my techniques feel much younger than they did 10 years ago - sayss the director.

Agnieszka Holland’s TV series revolution

Holland, who only recently took up quite a challenge in directing a TV version of Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, now she has another great project ahead of her.

House of Cards is a symbol of the revolutionary changes taking place in modern TV, mainly due to its budget – it is the first ever series to have cost $100 million for the 1st season alone.

It was produced by the biggest video-on-demand platform in the US (which is also present in over 40 countries around the world).

It is not only the production costs that are striking. Netflix has completely redefined the philosophy of distribution – instead of broadcasting an episode weekly, which made viewers slaves of TV programming, they made the whole season available at once, as a way of fulfilling the expectations of a modern audience so fond of so-called binge-watching.

By joining the crew of House of Cards, Holland has joined the likes of David Fincher, Joel Schumacher and Jodie Foster, who have previously participated in Netflix releases.

Will the Polish director manage to smuggle a bit of her very own style into this TV series? It might be hard as the show's reality depends mainly on screenwriters and producers rather than directors.

Agnieszka Holland expressed some of her doubts about the series in the interview with Stopklatka website:

It seems like the series’ creators have come up against a brick wall - she says, noting that in her opinion, politics are presented in too abstract a way in House of Cards, - it is hard to imagine that a vice-president is a murderer, even if the president and vice-president could be blamed for deaths of thousands of people.

We will have to wait until February 2015 to find out about Frank Underwood’s ambitious efforts to move up to the top of the hierarchy in Washington.

Poles are taking over American TV

Holland is not the only Polish artist who enjoys the recognition of American TV producers.

Abel Korzeniowski, an outstanding and Hollywood acclaimed Polish composer, is getting ahead in the world of American television. The original score to Penny Dreadful, a horror TV series created for Showtime, is one of the most compelling soundtracks on American television in recent months.

It might happen that Antoni Komasa Łazarkiewicz will follow in Korzeniowski’s footsteps.

Łazarkewicz, the creator of the critically acclaimed soundtrack for Holland’s Burning Bush, also contributed to the production of Rosemary’s Baby.

Instead of facing the legacy of Krzysztof Komeda’s legendary soundtrack, the young Polish composer created a completely new score, as delightful as it is sinister.

Other countrymen were present at the set of Rosemary’s Baby. Kasia Adamik was a second unit director, while the excellent Jacek Patrycki was the second unit cinematographer. Wojciech Pszoniak had a captivating cameo as one of the Parisian satanists.

sources: Stopklatka, own materials: BS.

Translated by: Kasia Dolato