Those are the basics. What Frost/Nixon does very well beyond that is show at least some glimpses into what motivated each of the men. Part of the reason Nixon’s advisers thought talking with Frost could work to the former president’s advantage was a perception that Frost was a lightweight. U.S. journalists had wanted to interview Nixon, but the only U.S. television appearances he had done were on fluff shows where he could control the questioning. The sense among Nixon’s advisers was that while they might not be able to control what Frost asked, he wouldn’t be a match for Nixon.
Initially, it seems they’ll be proven right. Frost’s energy was going into trying to line up sponsors for the program, to the frustration of the three men working to develop the background research and questions. Those three, Frost’s producer John Birt and Americans Bob Zelnick and James Reston, Jr., are determined that the interviews be a way to put Nixon on trial for abuses of power including Watergate. But in the period leading up to the interviews, and during the first days of filming, Nixon looks to be the clear winner.
Several things happen to refocus Frost, and in the end, as history shows, he got Nixon to confess to wrongdoing on camera and in fact rattled the ex-president to the extent that the general perception was that Nixon came across poorly. But it’s watching the two maneuver around each other, and particularly, watching Nixon come apart, that’s fascinating.
Howard certainly knows how to build a story, and he’s aided ably here by an outstanding cast. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella played Frost and Nixon respectively on stage, and they’re clearly comfortable with the characters. They aren’t doing imitations of the real men, let alone parodies, but you come to believe they are those characters. Frost’s backup team includes Matthew Macfayden as Birt, Oliver Platt as Zelnick, and Sam Rockwell as Reston. I often find Rockwell too twitchy to watch, but that works well here; he’s the most avid to “get” Nixon, and Rockwell does a nice job selling that passion.
The Nixon team is less well-defined, except for Nixon’s chief of staff, Jack Brennan, played by Kevin Bacon. Bacon makes Brennan a real watchdog, alert to any possibility that the ex-president’s image might be further damaged. While not really part of the team, Toby Jones does a terrific job with a small but pivotal role as super-agent Swifty Lazar, who was repping Nixon.
Frost/Nixon received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Langella), directing, editing and adapted screenplay. Such achievement deserves, and for a change gets, the full Blu-Ray treatment. The special features include a number of deleted scenes, most of which, interestingly, serve to further flesh out the Nixon character. They were likely cut for length (even without them, the movie runs more than two hours), but they’re worth watching. There’s also a commentary track with Howard.
There’s a standard making-of featurette and a featurette on the Nixon library in California. Another featurette looks at the locations that were used, most of them the actual spots where the real life situations took place. And, another featurette called The Nixon Chronicles goes into more detail on the people involved.
My favorite of the special features, and something I wish there had been even more of, is a look at the actual interviews. This includes comments from Sir David Frost himself, and some cutting back and forth between moments in the actual interviews and how those elements were recreated for the film. I would have liked to have seen even more of the original interviews. (Related note: In the film, it’s Langella’s performance that dominates. But when you watch the actual interviews, you see that Sheen actually does a stronger job of slipping into Frost’s skin.)
Frost/Nixon doesn’t take place on a sweeping scale; most of the shots are interiors, in hotels, TV sets, and homes. So, there’s not really grandeur to enjoy in high def, but the picture clarity does work very well with the often subtle lighting in the film. The picture is 1080p high definition. Similarly, there’s no grand score, but because so much of the drama is in the inflections in Frost’s questions and Nixon’s answers, you can really appreciate the DTS HD audio. (There are also Spanish and French options, both DTS 5.1.) Subtitle options are English, French and Spanish. The special features are a mix of high def and standard def picture with English Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.