Dir. Ron Howard, US/UK/France, 2008, 122 mins
Cast: Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Matthew Macfadyen
Review by Carol Allen
This is adapted by Peter Morgan from his hit play about the historic television encounter in the ‘70s between presenter David Frost and former President Richard Nixon with Sheen and Langella recreating the title roles they played in the West End and on Broadway. It is a powerful, thought-provoking drama with plenty of dry laughs and is totally gripping throughout.
Unlike his Tony Blair in The Queen, Sheen doesn’t look at all like David Frost — he’s far softer and less sharp faced — but he captures his mannerisms perfectly and gives a very good performance. Particularly interesting is the contrast with the eminent Sir David of today. Young David is presented as a blatant seeker after fame and ratings — as one character points out his big talent is that “he understands television” — and at this stage of his career he was just a lightweight presenter eager for a high profile coup rather than a real journalist. Initially he’s more interested in the cachet of the television triumph of bagging the Nixon interview and hasn’t much of a clue as to how to get the story. One of the themes of the film is the transformation of Frost from a lightweight entertainer to a heavyweight journalist, though I’m sure the late Ned Sherrin, who discovered Frost for That Was The Week That Was in the early ‘60s, would have had some satirical comment to make on hearing the young Frost described as a “comedian”.
Langella captures the look and weight of Nixon and while the film doesn’t go into the essence of the man as much as it does with Frost, he’s very convincing, with his superficial charm masking his iron determination to win what he sees as a duel and his rapacity over the fee he’s being paid. In the initial interview sessions the way he runs rings round Frost is a good illustration of how he got the nickname of “Tricky Dickie” and when Frost finally nails him in the last session, he is like a felled ox. The two most revealing scenes for the character are two with Frost away from the television set-up — a late-night telephone conversation, where he unwisely gives away his Achilles’ heel to his opponent and the final meeting between the two after the broadcast, which neatly winds up their relationship. Both sequences are probably fictional but dramatically very effective. The third star is television itself and the beginnings of the “trial by television” phenomenon.
There are also some first-class supporting performances. Matthew Macfadyen is amusing as Frost’s producer, the young John Birt, fretting about the budget and Frost’s American support team includes Oliver Platt as seasoned news journalist, Bob Zelnick, who does a wicked impression of Nixon in their rehearsals and Sam Rockwell as the fervent, idealistic academic James Reston, who is determined to nail the former president. Playing on Nixon’s team are Kevin Bacon as the former president’s loyal aide and Toby Jones as his agent, while Rebecca Hall does the best she can with the somewhat unrewarding role of Frost’s girlfriend.
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