It’s often the case that Academy Award winners get all the glory, while the nominees they stand alongside tend to fade away. Such is the case for Frost/Nixon, a 2008 drama that hit Netflix today.
The movie tells a fictionalized account of a series of televised interviews broadcast in May 1977, between disgraced former president Richard Nixon and British media personality David Frost. Principally, it focuses on the fallout of the Watergate scandal and Nixon being issued a pardon by his successor Gerald Ford, meaning he would never face the legal consequences for his part in the infamous break-in, so Frost managing to wrangle an admission from Nixon of his guilt would be the closest thing to a trial he would receive.
Directed by Ron Howard, the movie is based on a stage play by British writer Peter Morgan, who over the last couple of decades has made something of a career in telling fictionalized stories involving real-life 20th century figures, some of his other subjects including Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. It sees Michael Sheen and Frank Langella in the eponymous roles, reprising their parts from the Broadway performances, each of whom disappear into their character to the extent that you can imagine you’re watching the real events from the ‘70s.
The film came under some scrutiny for the level of dramatic license taken with the characterization of those involved and the accuracy of the events it portrays, but nobody goes into a movie expecting 100% fidelity to facts, even in a story relating real incidents about real people.
Despite having largely faded into relative obscurity since its release, Frost/Nixon is still a terrific movie and in a way quite timely, as the notion of holding an American president accountable for their criminal activities is something that many of us would welcome right now. So, if you haven’t yet seen it, or feel like revisiting the film, be sure to check it out on Netflix.
