| | | |An Epic Battle for the Truth.
Features: DVD, English, Spanish, French, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
"Ron Howard's finest film yet." Christy Lemire, Associated Press
"It's hard to imagine how a film built around one-on-one interviews could be entertaining, but Frost/Nixon could not be more enthralling." Claudia Puig, USA Today
"Surges with an energy and visual verve that improve the play and enhance the themes of dramatist Peter Morgan's script." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"Ron Howard has made his best movie with Frost/Nixon, an electric political drama with a skin-prickling immediacy." Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
"In a masterful performance, Langella highlights Nixon's oily charm and guile." Nathan Rabin, The Onion A.V. Club
"...a grabber of a movie laced with tension, stinging wit and potent human drama." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...a totally absorbing and entertaining film, one of the best historical dramas from Hollywood in many years." Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
Editor's Note
The power of television, and one man's drive to achieve what seems like, at times, an impossible dream, are the two central themes explored in Ron Howard's enthralling drama FROST/NIXON. The impossible dream belongs to David Frost (Michael Sheen), a moderately successful English talk show host who set out to interview disgraced former president Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) following his resignation in 1974. Howard examines how Frost pulled off such an audacious achievement, and also looks at how both sides prepared for the series of interviews, which eventually transpired in 1977. The confrontation between the two is laced with tension, and the director makes it clear that both men had plenty to lose and a lot to gain, depending on who the public perceived to be in control. Langella gives a supreme performance as Nixon, easily matching Anthony Hopkins's turn as the former president in Oliver Stone's NIXON (1995). Howard's film, which is based on the play of the same name by Peter Morgan, expertly pits the two men against one another by highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses. Frost was a consummate TV host but was out of his depth in political commentary; Nixon was highly adept at avoiding direct answers to Frost's questions, but couldn't mask his sullen facial expressions from the camera. Sheen and Langella are supported by a resolutely excellent cast, and the tension builds to almost unbearable levels as the two finally sit down and discuss Nixon's career. The key scene, in which Nixon's true feelings are exposed via a simple trick--a close-up shot of the former president's sad-eyed face, clearly indicating his deep unhappiness at all his failings--is adeptly handled by Howard, and serves to highlight how vital it is for politicians to perform under the unforgiving gaze of the media.
| Features | Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Deleted Scenes | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Feature Audio Commentary With Director Ron Howard | | Featurettes: The Making Of Frost/Nixon, The Real Interview, & The Nixon Library | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Frost/Nixon - DVD Review By: Sean O'Connell - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 4/10/2009 5:36 PM | |
If there's a single misstep in Ron Howard's expertly calibrated Frost/Nixon, it eluded me. Howard's spellbinding adaptation of Peter Morgan's Tony-nominated stage drama understands the politics that manipulate Washington and Hollywood. It comprehends how many interviews are won and lost long before the QandA begins. It figures out the best way to transition an airtight theatrical production to the roomier silver screen (giving the elements plenty of room to breathe). And -- most importantly -- it illustrates the intimidating power of television, which creates and destroys legacies on a daily basis....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 8/11/2009 |
| Original Release Date: 2008 | | Catalog ID: 61102079 | | UPC: 00025195016919 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Toby Jones | | Oliver Platt | | Matthew MacFadyen | | Frank Langella | | Sam Rockwell | | Rebecca Hall | | Kevin Bacon | | Michael Sheen | | Peter Morgan - Screenwriter | | Eric Fellner - Producer | | Hans Zimmer - Composer | | Karen Kehela Sherwood - Executive Producer | | Dan Hanley - Editor | | Brian Grazer - Producer | | Michael Corenblith - Production Designer | | Peter Morgan - Source Writer | | Debra Hayward - Executive Producer | | David Bernardi - Executive Producer | | Ron Howard - Producer | | Salvatore Totino - Director of Photography | | Matthew Byam Shaw - Executive Producer | | Peter Morgan - Executive Producer | | Liza Chasin - Executive Producer | | Tim Bevan - Producer | | Daniel Orlandi - Costume Designer | | Mike Hill - Editor | | Todd Hallowell - Executive Producer | | Ron Howard - Director |
| Awards |
Oscar (2009) | | | Brian Grazer, et. al., Nominee, Best Motion Picture of the Year | | | Frank Langella, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | |
Golden Globe (2009) | | | Frank Langella, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama | |
Screen Actors Guild (2009) | | | Frank Langella, Nominee, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role | | | Frank Langella, et. al., Nominee, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | |
Golden Globe (2009) | | | Frost/Nixon, Nominee, Best Motion Picture - Drama | | | Hans Zimmer, Nominee, Best Original Score - Motion Picture | |
Oscar (2009) | | | Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley, Nominee, Best Achievement in Editing | |
Golden Globe (2009) | | | Peter Morgan, Nominee, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture | |
Oscar (2009) | | | Peter Morgan, Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published | |
Golden Globe (2009) | | | Ron Howard, Nominee, Best Director - Motion Picture | |
Oscar (2009) | | | Ron Howard, Nominee, Best Achievement in Directing |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"FROST/NIXON is an effective, straightforward bigscreen version of Peter Morgan's shrews stage drama about the historic 1977 TV interview in which Richard Nixon brought himself down once again." 10/15/2008Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Start with 'magnificent' to describe Frank Langella's bone-deep performance as Nixon. It's one for the time capsule....One of the year's best films..." 12/11/2008 p.102-103 USA Today
4 stars out of 4 -- "Langella and Sheen originated these roles in the play by Peter Morgan and translate them to screen with awe-inspiring deftness. Langella's bravura performance comprises equal parts nuance, bluster and presidential stature." 12/05/2008 Los Angeles Times
"The result is involving, engrossing cinema -- more thrilling, in fact, than Howard's THE DA VINCI CODE -- filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed." 12/05/2008 Premiere
"A totally mesmerizing battle of the wills between the occasionally charming yet wily Nixon and the increasingly desperate Frost." 12/05/2008 Chicago Sun-Times
"The story of a duel between a crafty man and a persistent one....Frank Langella is uncanny as RMN. Ron Howard directs mercilessly." 12/05/2008 Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "Howard's confident adaptation is as much about television as it is history....Sheen's performance is magnificent, a layered hero spotted with vanity..." 01/01/2009 p.62-63 Entertainment Weekly
"FROST/NIXON, directed with practiced fluidity by Ron Howard, surges with an energy and visual verve that improve the play and enhance the themes of dramatist Peter Morgan's script..." -- Grade: A- 12/12/2008 p.48 Rolling Stone
Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone's 'Movies Of The Year' -- "All the actors excel, but Langella is transcendent, a lion roaring against a lonely winter." 01/08/2008 p.116 Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "Frank Langella plays Nixon as a wounded lion with a destructive streak fuelled by self-loathing. It's a compelling performance..." 01/01/2009 p.48 Box Office
4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his one finds the most compelling truths in anecdotal detail....It's a film worthy of multiple Oscar nominations, and one that probably deserves a few more in categories that don't exist." 11/17/2008 Hollywood Reporter
"Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, who originated the roles onstage, effectively play Frost and Nixon....Langella permits prosthetic makeup to get the Nixon jowls and gives his voice a Nixonian tenor, but otherwise his is a study in power lost and utter loneliness." 10/15/2008 ReelViews 9 of 10
"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story," or so the saying goes. With Frost/Nixon, director Ron Howard and playwright/screenwriter Peter Morgan have taken this precept to heart. With this movie, a fictionalized account of real events, the filmmakers have fashioned a powerful and compelling duel between two iconic figures that, despite liberties taken with known facts, provides a few hard-earned truths and a complex portrait of one of the most controversial individuals to sit in the Oval Office. Especially in an era when the public's view of the presidency (and the man who holds it) has dropped to historic lows, it would be easy to demonize Nixon. By avoiding that lazy and easy pathway, Howard and Morgan have transformed this story into something more than an embellished re-telling of recent history. They have shaped a tragedy that is almost Shakespearean in force...The tone of Frost/Nixon is staid and sure, as befits a movie with this subject, but there are powerful dramatic currents roiling beneath the sometimes calm surface. It's a forceful, unrelenting movie that folds back time and recalls, albeit imperfectly according to the public record, how a long national nightmare finally faded. It's a David vs. Goliath story where even the loser gained something. And, above all, it causes us to ponder the truth, or lack thereof, of Shakespeare's unforgettable words: "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones." In a way, Nixon's presidency was buried during that final interview with Frost. But it gave his legacy a chance at new life. Had he denied to his dying day in 1994, he would have been forever viewed with scorn. His admission and remorse in front of a world-wide television audience allowed for a measure of healing on all sides. The way it has been dramatized in this movie allows us to feel and understand, if only a little. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
Strange, how a man once so reviled has gained stature in the memory. How we cheered when Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency! How dramatic it was when David Frost cornered him on TV and presided over the humiliating confession that he had stonewalled for three years...The confession wrung out of him by Frost acted as a catharsis. He admitted what everyone already knew, and that freed him to get on with things, to end his limbo in San Clemente, Calif., to give other interviews, to write books, to be consulted as an elder statesman. Indeed, to show his face in public...Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon" is a somewhat fictionalized version of the famous 1977 interviews, all the more effective in taking the point of view of the outsider, the "lightweight" celebrity interviewer, then in his own exile in Australia. Precisely because David Frost (Michael Sheen) was at a low ebb professionally and had gambled all his money on the interviews, his POV enhances and deepens the shadows around Nixon (Frank Langella). This story could not have been told from Nixon's POV because we would not have cared about Frost...Frank Langella and Michael Sheen do not attempt to mimic their characters, but to embody them. There's the usual settling-in period, common to all biopics about people we're familiar with, when we're comparing the real with the performance. Then that fades out and we become absorbed into the drama. Howard uses authentic locations (Nixon's house at San Clemente, Frost's original hotel suite), and there are period details, but the film really comes down to these two compelling intense performances, these two men with such deep needs entirely outside the subjects of the interviews. All we know about the real Frost and the real Nixon is almost beside the point. It all comes down to those two men in that room while the cameras are rolling. - Roger Ebert
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