A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.
- Nominated for 5 Oscars
- 23 wins & 81 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFrank Langella admits that he usually enjoys playing cards, and joking around on movie sets, but felt it would compromise his character if he didn't remain Presidential on this set. While working on this movie, other cast and crew referred to him as "Mr. President." Langella suggests almost none of the crew ever met Frank Langella.
- GoofsFrost and Nixon behave as if they've never met before. In real life, Frost interviewed Nixon when he ran for president in 1968. Nixon enjoyed the interview so much that after he was elected, he met with Frost in the White House to discuss producing a television special.
- Quotes
Richard Nixon: That's our tragedy, you and I Mr. Frost. No matter how high we get, they still look down at us.
David Frost: I really don't know what you're talking about.
Richard Nixon: Yes you do. Now come on. No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or how high the elected office is, it's still not enough. We still feel like the little man. The loser. They told us we were a hundred times, the smart asses in college, the high ups. The well-born. The people who's respect we really wanted. Really craved. And isn't that why we work so hard now, why we fight for every inch? Scrambling our way up in undignified fashion. If we're honest for a minute, if we reflect privately, just for a moment, if we allow ourselves a glimpse into that shadowy place we call our soul, isn't that why we're here? Now? The two of us. Looking for a way back into the sun. Into the limelight. Back onto the winner's podium. Because we can feel it slipping away. We were headed, both of us, for the dirt. The place the snobs always told us that we'd end up. Face in the dust, humiliated all the more for having tried. So pitifully hard. Well, to *hell with that*! We're not going to let that happen, either of us. We're going to show those bums, we're going to make 'em choke on our continued success. Our continued headlines! Our continued awards! And power! And glory! We are gonna make those mother fuckers *choke*!
- Crazy creditsMichael Sheen and Frank Langella are credited simultaneously before the title. Sheen's name is on a lower level, but further to the left; while Langella's is higher up, but pushed to the right. Therefore, depending on whether you read the card top-to-bottom or left-to-right, either actor can be seen as being credited first.
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: Summer Special 2008/09 (2008)
- SoundtracksBy George It's David Frost
Written by George Martin (as George Henry Martin)
Performed by Atli Örvarsson
My reluctance had to do with the expectation that it will offer nothing new to somebody who lived through the Watergate years and saw the Frost interviews (although remembering surprisingly little of them).
Ron Howard's film is anything but ho-hum - if anything it's a bit too gussied up to be exciting. There is an element of discernible manipulation of the audience, but mostly it works, and you don't long resist it.
The (relatively) unsung hero of the film besides Howard, Frank Langella's tremendous Nixon, and Michael Sheen's excellent Frost is the screenwriter: once again Peter Morgan (of "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Queen") engages mind and heart, and doesn't let go. Sam Rockwell's James Reston, Jr. and Oliver Platt's Bob Zelnick (Frost's two collaborators) are outstanding, and Kevin Bacon's Nixon-worshipping Jack Brennan is the actor's best work in a long time.
Morgan and Howard manage to make the viewer think constantly of another criminal President without saying or showing anything overt - they just let history, past and present, speak.
I had a strange, uncomfortable thought watching "Frost/Nixon": even if some future film "humanizes" (not excuses) Bush the way Nixon comes through this one, W. would still remain a malevolent midget against Nixon's accomplishments and actual *brain*. How far we have fallen.
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Frost/Nixon - La entrevista del escándalo
- Filming locations
- Palos Verdes Estates, California, USA(Nixon "San Clemente" Compound)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $18,622,031
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $180,708
- Dec 7, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $27,426,335
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1