Frost/Nixon is a
2008This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
historical drama film based on the 2006 play by
Peter MorganPeter Morgan may refer to:* Peter Morgan , British sports car manufacturer* Peter Morgan , 1978 British Formula Ford champion* Peter Morgan , Wales and British lions international...
which dramatizes the
Frost/Nixon interviewsThe Nixon Interviews were a series of interviews of former United States President Richard Nixon conducted by British journalist Sir David Frost, and produced by John Birt. They were recorded and broadcast on television in four programs in 1977...
of 1977. The film was directed by
Ron HowardRonald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
and produced for
Universal Pictures-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
by Howard,
Brian GrazerBrian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
of
Imagine EntertainmentImagine Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1986 by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.Its productions include the television series 24 and Arrested Development and the films Apollo 13 , A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code .-Organization:Karen...
and
Tim BevanTim Bevan, CBE is a film producer.Bevan was born in Queenstown, New Zealand. He co-founded Working Title Films in London with Sarah Radclyffe in the 1980s....
and
Eric Fellner-Life and career:Fellner went to Cranleigh School in Surrey, England from 1972-77. He attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He is a good friend of Hugh Grant, who is the star of some of Working Title's biggest box office hits. Fellner and his long-time partner, model Laura...
of
Working Title FilmsWorking Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
, and received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture,
Best ActorBest Actor may refer to:* Academy Award for Best Actor* BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role* Best Actor Award * Empire Award for Best Actor* Empire Award for Best British Actor* Filmfare Best Actor Award...
and Best Director.
The film reunites its original two stars from the
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
and
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions of the play -
Michael SheenMichael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...
as British television broadcaster
David FrostSir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
and
Frank Langella-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
as former
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
President
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
.
Plot
A series of news reports document the role of Richard Nixon in the 1972
Watergate scandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, prior to his 1974 resignation speech. Meanwhile, David Frost has finished recording an episode of his talk show in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and watches on television as Nixon leaves the White House.
A few weeks later in the
London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
(LWT) central office, Frost discusses the possibility of an interview with his producer and friend, John Birt. When Frost mentions Nixon as the subject, Birt doubts that Nixon would be willing to talk to Frost. Frost then tells Birt that 400 million people watched President Nixon's resignation on live television.
Nixon is recovering from
phlebitisPhlebitis is an inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs.When phlebitis is associated with the formation of blood clots , usually in the deep veins of the legs, the condition is called thrombophlebitis...
at
La Casa PacificaLa Casa Pacifica is a mansion located in the Cottons Point Estates gated community on the beaches of San Clemente, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean...
in San Clemente,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He is discussing his memoirs with literary agent
Irving "Swifty" LazarIrving Paul "Swifty" Lazar was a talent agent and deal-maker, representing both movie stars and authors.Born as Samuel Lazar in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1931...
, who tells the former president of a request by Frost to conduct an interview with an offer of $500,000; only after Lazar contacts Frost is the offer increased to $600,000. Lazar contacts Frost to inform him that Nixon is interested, so Frost and Birt fly to California to meet with Nixon. While on the plane, Frost meets Caroline Cushing, with whom he soon becomes infatuated and begins a relationship. At La Casa Pacifica, Frost makes the first partial payment of $200,000. However, Nixon's post-presidential chief of staff,
Jack BrennanJohn "Jack" Vincent Brennan is a retired American United States Marine Corps Reserve officer and political aide. He is best known as President Richard Nixon's post-resignation chief of staff.-Early life:...
, expresses doubts that Frost will be able to pay the entire amount.
Frost tries to sell the interviews to the U.S. broadcast networks, but they all turn him down. Frost decides to finance the project with private money and syndicate the broadcast of four interviews. He hires two investigators - Bob Zelnick and
James Reston Jr.James Reston Jr. is an American author and journalist. His father was the American journalist James Reston.Reston was raised in Washington, D.C. He earned his BA in philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while on a Morehead Scholarship...
- to dig for information along with Birt, focusing on Watergate. During the research process, Reston mentions a lead in the Federal Courthouse in
WashingtonWashington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
that he thinks he can lock down with a week of work, but Frost decides against it.
Over the first three recording sessions, each two and a half hours long, Frost struggles to ask planned questions of Nixon. Nixon is able to take up much of the time during these sessions by giving lengthy monologues, preventing Frost from challenging him. The former president fences ably on Vietnam and is able to dominate in the area where he had substantial achievements — foreign policy related to Russia and China. Frost's editorial team appear to be breaking apart as Zelnick and Reston express anger that Nixon appears to be exonerating himself, and Reston belittles Frost's abilities as an interviewer.
Four days before the final session on Watergate, Frost is in his hotel room, waiting for Caroline to call him from a restaurant to bring him some food. The phone rings, and Frost, believing it to be Caroline, answers with "I'll have a cheeseburger." He is astonished to discover that it is actually an inebriated Nixon at the other end of the line. Nixon drunkenly tells Frost that they both know the final interview will make or break their careers. If Frost fails to implicate Nixon definitively in the Watergate scandal, then Frost will have allowed Nixon to revive his political career at Frost's expense. He will thus have an unsellable series of interviews and be bankrupted. Nixon acknowledges that he feels a certain amount of socioeconomic kinship with Frost; saying that both of them had to struggle to make it to the top of their fields, only to be brutally knocked back down; but goes on to assure him that he will do everything in his power to emerge the victor from the final interview.
The conversation spurs Frost into action. Having spent most of his time selling the show to networks and gaining advertisers, Frost resolves to ensure that the final interview will be successful. He calls Reston and tells him to follow up on the federal courthouse hunch and works relentlessly for three days.
As the final recording begins, Frost is a much sterner adversary, providing damning information about
Charles ColsonCharles Wendell "Chuck" Colson is a Christian leader, cultural commentator, and former Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973....
, resulting in Nixon admitting that he did unethical things but "defending" himself with the statement, "When the President does it, that means it's not illegal!" Frost is shocked by this statement, and asks if the president took part in a
cover-upA cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
, at which point Brennan bursts in and stops the recording as Nixon is visibly unable to answer. After Nixon and Brennan confer in a side room, Nixon returns to the interview, admitting that he participated in a cover-up and that he "let the American people down."
Shortly before Frost returns to England, he and Caroline visit Nixon in his villa. Frost thanks Nixon for the interviews and presents him with a gift pair of Italian shoes that Nixon mentioned he fancied during their first meeting. Nixon, realizing he has lost, however, does graciously thank Frost and wishes him well in future endeavors. Nixon then asks to speak to Frost privately. Nixon asks if he had really called Frost before the final interview and if they had spoken about anything important. Frost replies that Nixon did indeed call and they talked about cheeseburgers. Reston says that Nixon's lasting legacy was the suffix "gate" being added to any political scandal. The epilogue tells that Nixon wrote an
autobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, but never escaped controversy until his death in 1994. At the film's close, Nixon watches David and Caroline leaving and then leans over a railing of his villa, looking out at the sunset and contemplating the future.
Cast
- Frank Langella
-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
as Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
- Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...
as David FrostSir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
- Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
as Jack BrennanJohn "Jack" Vincent Brennan is a retired American United States Marine Corps Reserve officer and political aide. He is best known as President Richard Nixon's post-resignation chief of staff.-Early life:...
- Oliver Platt
Oliver James Platt is a Canadian-American actor. He is currently starring in the Showtime original series, The Big C with Laura Linney.-Early life:...
as Bob Zelnick
- Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
as James Reston Jr.James Reston Jr. is an American author and journalist. His father was the American journalist James Reston.Reston was raised in Washington, D.C. He earned his BA in philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while on a Morehead Scholarship...
- Matthew Macfadyen
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor, known for his role as MI5 intelligence officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.In June, 2010 Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting...
as John Birt
- Rebecca Hall
Rebecca Maria Hall is an English actress.In 2003, Hall won the Ian Charleson Award for her debut stage performance in a production of Mrs. Warren's Profession...
as Caroline Cushing
- Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad Seed...
as Pat NixonThelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States, and was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974. She was commonly known as Patricia or Pat Nixon.Born in Nevada, Pat Ryan grew up in Los Angeles, California...
- Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
as Swifty Lazar
- Andy Milder
Andy Milder is an American actor and voice actor. He has appeared in such films as Apollo 13, Armageddon, Rumor Has It…, Frost/Nixon, Transformers and Domino...
as Frank GannonFrank Gannon may refer to:* Frank Gannon, Nixon aide who had a relationship with Diane Sawyer* Frank Gannon, fictional character in the film Direct Action* Frank Gannon, P.I. P.I., fictional character in the television program Saturday Night Live...
- Keith MacKechnie as Marvin Minoff
Marvin Minoff was an American film and television producer best known for producing The Nixon Interviews between British journalist David Frost and former U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1977...
- Clint Howard
Clinton "Clint" Howard is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor with numerous brief appearances on television and films. He has played many bit parts in movies directed by his brother, actor-turned-director Ron Howard. He is also the uncle of actress Bryce Dallas Howard...
as Lloyd Davis
- Rance Howard
Rance Howard is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Life and career:Howard was born Harold Rance Beckenholdt in Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to "Rance Howard" when he became an actor. He married Jean Speegle Howard...
as Ollie
- Kaine Bennett Charleston
Kaine Bennett Charleston is an Australian film producer, film and stage actor, known for playing the Sydney News Director in the film Frost/Nixon, also Aussie Alex and Paramedic Brad on TLC's Untold Stories of the ER...
as Sydney News Director
- Gabriel Jarret
Gabriel Jarret is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the young genius Mitch Taylor in the 1985 comedy film Real Genius in which he co starred with Val Kilmer....
as Ken Khachigian
- Kate Jennings Grant as Diane Sawyer
- Geoffrey Blake
Geoffrey Lewis Blake is an American film and television actor.Blake was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Marjorie Myers and Avery Felton Blake. Blake's film credits include Contact, Young Guns, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away...
as Interview Director
Other figures and personalities depicted in the film include
Diane SawyerLila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
, Tricia Nixon Cox,
Michael YorkMichael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
,
Hugh HefnerHugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
, helicopter pilot
Gene BoyerRetired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Gene T. Boyer was the chief pilot of Army One, the helicopter transporting the President of the United States, between 1964 and 1975. Boyer was the pilot during President Richard Nixon's last day in office on August 9, 1974, when Nixon famously...
(as himself),
Raymond PriceRaymond K. "Ray" Price, Jr was the chief speechwriter of U.S. President Richard Nixon, working on both inaugural addressess, his resignation speech, and Gerald Ford's pardon speech....
,
Ken KhachigianKenneth L. Khachigian is an American campaign strategist, speechwriter, and attorney. He was a speechwriter for President Richard Nixon and was chief speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan....
,
Sue MengersSue Mengers was a talent agent to many significant filmmakers and actors of the New Hollywood generation of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.-Early life:...
and
Neil DiamondNeil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
. To prepare for his role as Richard Nixon, Frank Langella visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in
Yorba Linda, CaliforniaYorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, approximately northeast of Downtown Santa Ana, and southeast of Downtown Los Angeles....
, and interviewed many people who had known the former president. On the set, the cast and crew addressed Langella as "Mr. President".
Release
Frost/Nixon had its world premiere on October 15, 2008 as the opening film of the 52nd annual
London Film FestivalThe BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
. It was released in three theaters in the United States on December 5 before expanding several times over the following weeks. It was released in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and expanded into wide status in the United States on January 23, 2009.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 21, 2009. Special features include deleted scenes, the making of the film, the real interviews between Frost and Nixon, the Nixon Presidential Library and a feature commentary with Ron Howard.
Box office
Frost/Nixon had a limited release at three theaters on December 5, 2008 and grossed $180,708 in its opening weekend, ranking number 22. Opening wide at 1,099 theaters on January 23, 2009, the film grossed $3,022,250 at the box office in the United States and Canada, ranking number 16. The film's gross for Friday, January 30 was estimated the next day at $420,000.
Frost/Nixon grossed an estimated $18,622,031 in the United States and Canada and $8,804,304 in other territories for a total of $27,426,335 worldwide.
Critical reception
Reviews of the film were positive. Review aggregator
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 92% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 216 reviews, with a weighted average score of 7.9 out of a possible 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes's
Top Critics which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall high approval rating of 90%.
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 80 out of 100.
Critic
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film four stars, commenting that Langella and Sheen "do not attempt to mimic their characters, but to embody them" while
Peter TraversPeter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave the film 3½ stars, saying that Ron Howard "turned Peter Morgan's stage success into a grabber of a movie laced with tension, stinging wit and potent human drama." Writing for
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Todd McCarthy praised Langella's performance in particular, stating, "[B]y the final scenes, Langella has all but disappeared so as to deliver Nixon himself." René Rodríguez of
The Miami HeraldThe Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
, however, gave the film two stars and commented that the picture "pales in comparison to
Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's
NixonNixon is a 1995 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former US President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins....
when it comes to humanizing the infamous leader" despite writing that the film "faithfully reenacts the events leading up to the historic 1977 interviews." Manohla Dargis of
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said, "[S]tories of lost crowns lend themselves to drama, but not necessarily audience-pleasing entertainments, which may explain why
Frost/Nixon registers as such a soothing, agreeably amusing experience, more palliative than purgative."
Dramatic license and factual inaccuracies
Both the film and the play take dramatic license with the on-air and behind-the-scene details of
The Nixon InterviewsThe Nixon Interviews were a series of interviews of former United States President Richard Nixon conducted by British journalist Sir David Frost, and produced by John Birt. They were recorded and broadcast on television in four programs in 1977...
.
Jonathan AitkenJonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months...
, one of Nixon's official biographers who spent much time with the former president at La Casa Pacifica, rebukes the film's portrayal of a drunken Nixon making a late-night phone call as never having happened and "from start to finish, an artistic invention by the scriptwriter Peter Morgan". Director
Ron HowardRonald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
discussed the scene in detail on his
feature commentaryOn disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
for the DVD release, pointing out it was a deliberate act of dramatic license, and while Frost never received such a phone call, "it was known that Richard Nixon, during ...the Watergate scandal, had occasionally made midnight phone calls that he couldn't very well recall the following day." Aitken remembers that "Frost did not ambush Nixon during the final interview into a damaging admission of guilt. What the former president 'confessed' about Watergate was carefully pre-planned. It was only with considerable help and advice from his adversary's team that Frost managed to get much more out of Nixon, in the closing sequences, by reining in his fierce attitude and adopting a gentler approach."
Elizabeth DrewElizabeth Drew is an American political journalist and author.- Biography :A graduate of Wellesley College, she was Washington correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker...
of the
Huffington Post and author of
Richard M. Nixon (2007) noted some inaccuracies, including a misrepresentation of the end of the interviews, a lack of mentioning the fact that Nixon received 20% of the profits from the interviews, and what she purports to be inaccurate representations of some of the characters. Drew points out a critical line in the movie that is particularly deceptive: Nixon admitted he "'...was involved in a 'cover-up,' as you call it.' The ellipsis is of course unknown to the audience, and is crucial: What Nixon actually said was, 'You're wanting to me to say that I participated in an illegal cover-up. No!'"
David EdelsteinDavid Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
of
New YorkNew York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
wrote that the film overstates the importance of its basis, the Frost interviews, stating it "elevates the 1977 interviews Nixon gave (or, rather, sold, for an unheard-of $600,000) to English TV personality David Frost into a momentous event in the history of politics and media." Edelstein also noted that "with selective editing, Morgan makes it seem as if Frost got Nixon to admit more than he actually did." Edelstein wrote that the film "is brisk, well crafted, and enjoyable enough, but the characters seem thinner (Sheen is all frozen smiles and squirms) and the outcome less consequential."
Fred Schwarz, writing for the
National ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
online, said that, "
Frost/Nixon is an attempt to use history, assisted by plenty of dramatic license, to retrospectively turn a loss into a win. By all accounts,
Frost/Nixon does a fine job of dramatizing the negotiations and preparation that led up to the interviews. And it’s hard to imagine Frank Langella, who plays a Brezhnev-looking Nixon, giving a bad performance. Still, the movie’s fundamental premise is just plain wrong." Though generally liked by critic Daniel Eagan, he notes that partisans on both sides have questioned the accuracy of the film's script.
Caroline Cushing Graham, in a December 2008 interview, noted that her first trip with Frost was to the
Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
fight in
ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
, and that the two had been together for more than five years prior to when the film shows the two meeting. She remembered Frost as feeling that he did a pretty good job on every interview, whereas the film depicts him feeling like he did a poor job with the first two interviews. She also said that while the movie shows Frost driving, in fact they were always chauffeured because Frost was always making notes for the work he was doing.
Diane SawyerLila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
, portrayed in the film in her role as one of Nixon's researchers, said in December 2008 that, "
Jack BrennanJohn "Jack" Vincent Brennan is a retired American United States Marine Corps Reserve officer and political aide. He is best known as President Richard Nixon's post-resignation chief of staff.-Early life:...
is portrayed as a stern military guy," citing both the play and what she’d heard about the film version. "And he’s the funniest guy you ever met in your life, an irreverent, wonderful guy. So there you go. It's the movies."
Top ten lists
Frost/Nixon appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.
Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 72 different top ten lists out of 286 different critics' lists surveyed, the 10th most mentions on a top ten list of the films released in 2008. In addition, the film was selected by the
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as one of the best ten movies of 2008.
- 2nd - Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz is an American radio and television personality, known for his work as a TV journalist, news anchor, and film critic...
, At the Movies
- 3rd - Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
, Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- 4th - David Ansen
David Ansen is a reviewer and senior editor for Newsweek, where he has been reviewing movies since 1977. He came to Newsweek after several years as the chief film critic at Boston's The Real Paper...
, NewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
- 4th - Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- 4th - Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
, Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
- 5th - Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
- 6th - Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
- 6th - Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
, San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
- 6th - Shawn Levy
Shawn Anthony Levy is an American film critic, author and blogger.Born in New York City, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine, Levy has been the film critic of The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon since 1997. He is a former Senior Editor...
, The OregonianThe Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
- 6th - Ben Lyons, At the Movies
- 7th - Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- 10th - James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
, ReelViews
- 10th — Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- Listed - Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
(Ebert gave a top 20 list in alphabetical order without ranking)
Awards and nominations
| Award Show |
Nominations |
Result |
| Golden Globes The 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
|
Best Motion Picture |
|
Best Actor (Langella-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
) |
|
Best Director (HowardRonald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
) |
|
| Best Original Score (Zimmer) |
|
| Best Screenplay (Morgan Peter Morgan may refer to:* Peter Morgan , British sports car manufacturer* Peter Morgan , 1978 British Formula Ford champion* Peter Morgan , Wales and British lions international...
) |
|
| Vegas Film Society The 12th Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, honouring the best in film for 2008, were given by the Las Vegas Film Critics Society on 18 December 2008.-Winners:Best Actor*Frank Langella - Frost/NixonBest Actress...
|
Best Actor (Langella) |
|
| Best Director |
|
| Best Editing |
|
| Best Film |
|
| Best Screenplay |
|
| Screen Actors Guild ----Best Cast - Motion Picture: Slumdog Millionaire----Best Cast - Drama Series: Mad Men Best Cast - Comedy Series: 30 Rock ...
|
Best Actor (Langella) |
|
| Best Cast |
|
Academy AwardsThe 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
|
Best Picture |
|
| Best Actor (Langella) |
|
| Best Adapted Screenplay |
|
Best Director (HowardRonald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
) |
|
| Best Editing |
|
| BAFTA Awards The 62nd British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 8 February 2009, and honoured the best films of 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler*Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon...
|
Best Film |
|
| Best Director |
|
| Best Actor |
|
| Best Screenplay-Adapted |
|
| Best Editing |
|
| Best Make up and Hair |
|
External links