August 8, 1974. Whoever was around remembers that day, the day Nixon resigned. But his resignation was not enough. People wanted to hear him say he had committed criminal acts as president. The very popular British talk show host David Frost wanted to capture that moment, and invited Nixon to tell his story in an interview and finally got him to talk over a four week period taped in 1977. That's the substance of the stage play “Frost/Nixon” by Peter Morgan, and now a movie to open on December 5 with Michael Sheen and Frank Langella reprising their theater roles. “A Beautiful Mind” director Ron Howard had seen the play and recognized it was the record of an era, bringing a moment of closure to a deeply disturbing time. A question arises: how well can a stage play depicting an interview be opened up for a film? At Monday night's premiere, the answer was resounding: that feat can be done brilliantly. At the Four Seasons after party, Gay Talese waxed poetic about the power of Frank Langella's close-ups, something you would not get in a play. Having met the real Nixon, Talese extolled Langella's extraordinary incarnation of this historical figure. “I felt Nixon there,” he exuded. Charming Rebecca Hall, so good in Woody Allen's summer hit, Vicky Christina Barcelona, plays Frost's girlfriend. The British actress said you can not help but see the parallels of Nixon with our American president. She's currently living in New York, in rehearsals for the plays The Cherry Orchard and A Winter's Tale to be staged in repertory and directed by Sam Mendes. Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon also part of the excellent supporting cast celebrated the movie, as did Kyra Sedgwick, Debra Winger, Dick Cavett, Liz Smith, Nan Talese, Lynn Nesbit, Brian Williams. Having taken a risk, Sir David Frost is now quite pleased with having made history himself. His handshake is firm. And, in a moment of television following, eh, television, Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes was getting high praise for his interview with Michelle and Barack Obama that aired Sunday night. Only this time, the president's coming in.
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