The journalistic interview is challenging enough as it is. One must take notes, listen attentively, consider the next question and direct the conversation – all in chorus. However, an interviewee who doesn’t want to answer your questions changes everything. The conversation becomes an interrogation and the interviewee becomes an opponent.
Enter former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, played by Frank Langella. “I shall be your fiercest adversary. I shall come at you with everything I got. Because the limelight can only shine on one of us. And for the other, it’ll be the wilderness … with nothing, and no one for company but those voices ringing in our head.”
Directed by Ron Howard, the new docudrama “Frost/Nixon” recounts the improbable political face-off between a dishonorable American president and a British talk-show host. Driven by its astounding look-alike actors and focused on close-up emotional battles, “Frost/Nixon” is Hollywood’s most recent effort to make politics accessible.
Disgraced by the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned and escaped public scrutiny to his beach-side California villa. Three years later, the former commander-in-chief decided to participate in a televised quasi-trial that many hoped would finally bring an apology to the American people. At a time when smoking on airplanes was the norm, Nixon demanded $600,000 dollars for an interview that would eventually attract 45 million television viewers.
However, Nixon’s advisers selected an unlikely opponent whom they hoped could easily be outwitted by “Tricky Dick.” American television broadcasters were disbelieved to learn that justice would be mediated by David Frost, a British entertainer whose show had featured The Bee Gees and sensationalist escape artists. “You can’t say it’s not a fresh approach,” said Frost with all his charm in an effort to win over broadcasters.
Indeed, the bright-eyed playboy, played by Michael Sheen, seemed to be more interested in champagne and Bentleys than politics. While his colleagues were busy researching and preparing for 30 hours of taped personal interviewing, Frost was off at movie premieres and elaborate dinner parties.
However, when cameras rolled and the “hearings” began, Frost realized his adversary was not one to be taken lightly. As a man who lived the highest political honor before it was all taken away, a hardened Nixon had nothing to lose. His cynicism and bad temper could make for intensely uncomfortable conversation.
Frost, on the other hand, knew how to put on a show and intuitively recognized the elements of a great story (that would sell). His colleague, who fiercely believed that Nixon had an “anti-democratic personality,” was outraged with Frost’s vision of an interview that would earn sympathy for the ex-president. By the final scenes, the movie does just that – portraying a lonely man who tore his own life to pieces.
An outsider from the beginning, Nixon was now broken by failure and “haunted by his mistakes.” Nevertheless, from his money-loving personality, to his comical -yet sincere – monologues, Langella’s Nixon is a character you can’t help but love.
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