Check Out the Trailer

Peter Morgan’s play based on David Frost’s famed interview of Richard Nixon has been compellingly transported to the screen. Director Ron Howard takes a page from his CINDERELLA MAN playbook and uses a sports film engine to power this drama about two famous men engaging in a duel to revitalize their careers. One was a smiling British entertainment talk show host and the other was the disgraced President of the United States. Seems like Tyson-Douglas doesn’t it… at least Tyson-Douglas on paper before the fight actually took place.

David Frost (Michael Sheen, THE QUEEN) was doing a version of his talk show that was cancelled in the U.S. in Australia when Richard Nixon (Frank Langella, 1979’s DRACULA) resigned the presidency. Frost wanted to land an interview. Nixon’s agent Swifty Lazar (Toby Jones, THE PAINTED VEIL) saw dollar signs, while Nixon’s top advisor Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon, THE WOODSMAN) saw a chance to take puff questions from a hack and revitalize the former president’s image. Frost rushed into the deal with overconfidence, paying to lock down the interview with his own money before sponsors were locked. Though his main goal was entertainment, he still hired top researchers such as reporter Bob Zelnick (Oliver Platt, THE HOAX) and author James Reston (Sam Rockwell, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND), who was determined to give Nixon the trial he never had. The chief job of producer John Birt (Matthew Macfadyen, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) was to keep the wolves at bay when the production started bleeding.

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