Don't get the impression that you arouse my anger. You see, one can only be angry with those he respects

November 2, 2008 7:59 PM

Soon to be a Ron Howard movie (trailer here), portions of the Frost/Nixon interviews can be found online. More Nixon interviews can be found here.

The entire series of Frost/Nixon interviews from 1977 will soon be released on DVD.

English playwright and screenwriter, Peter Morgan wrote the play Frost/Nixon, as well as the upcoming Ron Howard movie. Morgan also wrote the movies The Queen (and its "prequel" The Deal) and The Last King of Scotland.

Eleanor Wachtel, host of CBC's Writers and Company speaks with Peter Morgan here (ram file).

posted by KokuRyu (14 comments total)

To me, the Nixon is synonymous with liar. I was only six when the country got Nixon'd. It has taken this long to recover.

OBAMA '08.
posted by humannaire at 8:41 PM on November 2, 2008

Nixon was a douchebag.
posted by Balisong at 8:50 PM on November 2, 2008

Fromthe trailer it seemed horribly over-dramatic. Still, it was a play I guess.
posted by Artw at 8:53 PM on November 2, 2008

Fromthe trailer it seemed horribly over-dramatic. Still, it was a play I guess.

It was a play that tried to be as un-filmable and un-movie-like as possible, being almost all interview segments on a bare stage with only two screens showing close-ups.


Nixon used to sign letters to his mom "Your faithful dog." I have no idea what to make of that.
posted by The Whelk at 8:59 PM on November 2, 2008

I was too young for any of this. Considering what did happen, however, it seems a little odd that at least one of his colleagues is considered a hero these days. To each his own. My impression of Nixon has been that above most other elected officials, he was literally drunk with power and did everything he could to keep his glass full. Of course, my impression is based upon those who wrote history after him, so who knows the real truth.
posted by tcv at 9:13 PM on November 2, 2008

Fromthe trailer it seemed horribly over-dramatic.

You do know who Ron Howard is, right? He is to "films that deservedly win Oscars" what Nixon is to great presidents.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:37 PM on November 2, 2008

From the trailer it seemed horribly over-dramatic.

Yeah, but kinda historically accurate for all that. I don't think anything quite like it has happened before or since.

Nixon is certainly one of the queerest men to ever occupy the Oval Office. In his retirement he devoted all his energy to salvaging his reputation in a series of books on foreign policy, which indeed remain relevant today, so to some extent he succeeded. But he stonewalled on Watergate to such an extent that Frost breaking down his armor was quite extraordinary.

he was literally drunk with power

What always fascinates about Nixon, though, is that he served a morality. One beyond the pale of a democratic system, to be sure, but not strictly amoral.
posted by dhartung at 10:38 PM on November 2, 2008

What always fascinates about Nixon, though, is that he served a morality. One beyond the pale of a democratic system, to be sure, but not strictly amoral.

An almost pathological need to be liked is a moral now? Not to knock on your theory or anything, but they all claim to serve a certain moral vanguard.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:53 AM on November 3, 2008

What always fascinates about Nixon, though, is that he served a morality. One beyond the pale of a democratic system, to be sure, but not strictly amoral.

like hoover... or mccarthy, if by moral you mean (relatively mild!) fascistic purity -- republicanism, say (as opposed to conservatism and, i guess, all the other 'isms' ;) -- which, of course, invites its own contradictions :P

um, so like you get this sorta strange reactionary response (thankfully) to (what turned out to be) "the dumb, paranoid and bigoted" that you hope means we will have all learned something.

cheers!
posted by kliuless at 2:21 AM on November 3, 2008

Nixon brought us Dick Cheney. So he couldn't be all that bad.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:08 AM on November 3, 2008

I'm actually more interested in a film that would explain how on earth Frost when from TV3 and this to doing Through The Keyhole for like, forever.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:40 AM on November 3, 2008

I am not sure what the appeal is to recreated interviews when you can watch the real thing, but then Opie makes great movies; they are almost as good as Meat Head's films.
posted by caddis at 7:48 AM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

Nixon was overly conscious of his own humble origins. Just watch the linked "found online" in the FPP when he talks about how the people at the worlds "watering holes" (Palm Beach, south of France, etc..) are playing golf and have no "purpose" in life. All very calculated 'I am better than though', which mutated into 'I am above everyone' and eventually 'I am above the law' which got him into trouble. Sociopaths have the same sort of mentality.
posted by stbalbach at 9:40 AM on November 3, 2008

well, whatever it's quality will turn out to be, I'll say this for the film: before I saw the trailer, I had no idea that these interview even existed, a fact no doubt telling of my own ignorance. the interview are really pretty incredible, I'm completely enthralled by it.
posted by shmegegge at 9:58 AM on November 3, 2008