Back in 2009, director Ron Howard was back in the director's chair as he teamed up with scriptwriter Peter Morgan for the first time on Frost/Nixon. The historical drama was to be the first collaboration between Howard and Morgan - who would collaborate again on Rush in 2013.
Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon saw Michael Sheen and Frank Langella take on the title roles in a dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon. Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Mcfadyen, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, and Toby Jones completed a fantastic and super talented line-up.
During his career, Howard has always delivered some wonderful character driven movies and Frost/Nixon is up there as one of his best. Of course, the movie focuses on the political environment of that time, but Frost/Nixon is very much a character study of these two men, who went head to head in a series of interviews. Frost was a little-know TV personality and Nixon was a disgraced ex-president and over the course of two hours, we get to know these two men a little better.
Howard and writer Morgan have crafted a power struggle between the pair; Frost wants nothing more than to get to the truth of the Watergate scandal, while Nixon is determined to dance around his questions and make it look like he is still in control and pulling the screens.
What we get is a wonderful smart and involving political and human drama as both Frost and Nixon try to outmanoeuvre each other, which is driven forward by two terrific performances from Sheen and Langella.
For me, Frost/Nixon is the best performance of Sheen's career to date as he takes plays David Frost so perfectly. He manages to capture the inexperience of Frost as well as his dogged nature as a journalist. He may struggle with Nixon at the beginning of their interviews together, but he become more shrewd in his questioning and he will not beaten by the media savvy Nixon.
I have been a fan of Frank Langella for many years and has delivered many fine performances during that time... however, his role as former President Richard Nixon is by far and away his best big screen moment. It is a dominating performance from Langella as the larger than life, cocky, and confident Nixon, who has refused to accept his wrongdoing in the Watergate scandal.
Langella really does capture the nasty side of Nixon and paints him as a money-grabbing, deceitful, liar who believed that Frost - due to his inexperience - would be an easy adversary. The disrespect that he showed Frost only drove the journalist to get to the truth once and for all.
The moments in the film when Sheen and Langella go head to head as Frost and Nixon are the film's most compelling scenes. It almost becomes a game of chess as they try to outwit one another to gain the upper hand - it really is riveting stuff from start to finish.
A wonderful supporting cast give some great performances - Matthew Mcfadyen is particularly good - but it is Sheen and Langella that steal the show and really drive the film and the central relationship forward. The two actors had worked together on the West End and Broadway production of the play and so the relationship between them was already well established - which works wonders for the film. You can see that there is a real bond and understanding between Sheen and Langella and that only strengths the onscreen relationship between them as Frost and Nixon.
Frost/Nixon is a terrific historical drama that not only paints a very vivid of two intriguing men, but it also takes the audience on a journey to that period in time. This is one of Howard's best character studies and one of his best and most intriguing films of his directing career to date.
Frost/Nixon was a huge critical success upon release and went on to be nominated for five Oscars; Best Picture, Best Actor for Langella, Best adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Director for Howard.
In The Heart of the Sea is released 26th December.
Tagged in Frank Langella Michael Sheen Ron Howard