Frost/Nixon - Frank Langella interview

FRANK Langella talks about playing former US President Richard Nixon on stage and on-screen, and why the story of Frost/Nixon remains such an enduring one for audiences. He was speaking at a UK press conference...

Q. You’ve played the part many, many times on stage. Was playing for the camera a restriction or was it more liberating?

Frank Langella: Well, he [Ron Howard] was the liberation. I’ve told this story before but the first thing I shot in the film was Nixon before he resigned, which isn’t in the film, but which was a scene I was very familiar with and I thought I was perfectly comfortable on camera, because I usually am. But Ron came up to me and said: “You don’t have to do it in the period of time you’re used to doing it, you can take as much time as you want – I’ve got a scissor and I’ve got a lot of film.” And that really liberated my work in the movie, to break all the rhythms of the stage performance.

Q. Given the number of times you’ve played this character on stage and now on-screen, have you changed it over time?

Frank Langella: For me, acting is a moveable feast, it changes every minute, every hour of the day and I think, certainly in performances in the theatre, I try to forget what that performance was that afternoon or that night and try to rediscover it again the next day. So, there were happenings all along, from the very first day of rehearsal to the very last shot of the movie, which represents two years of our life I think – but it did change and should change and Ron Howard likes to do a lot of takes, so if you have 23 shots in a line you might as well try it 23 different ways. So, the answer to your question is that it kept changing and there would be shards of feeling very centred with him [Nixon] and then maybe not, but after a while you and the character are one and I don’t think of it as third person anymore.

Q. Why are people still interested in the story 30 years on?

Frank Langella: It’s a good yarn. It’s just a good story, it’s a thriller… it’s David bringing down Goliath, which is a tried and true subject. And the characters themselves, one living and one not, are so original. There’s nobody like David Frost and there’s nobody like Richard Nixon and from my point of view that’s why it’s one of the reasons it is still intriguing. [Writer] Peter Morgan said that Richard Nixon was probably the most fascinating political figure of the 20th Century because of all his unbelievably obvious pain… it was so obvious to all of us how uncomfortable he was in his skin, so I think it’s a combination of the story and these two original, unique figures.

Q. Does it also remind you of a time when politicians weren’t so polished?

Frank Langella: There were also a lot better manners 40 years ago. The press knew not to discuss Jack Kennedy’s dalliances and now they would never not do that. There was a bit more formality between the office of the President and the press and now, when John McCain says he can’t turn up for a talk show, the talk show host thinks it’s perfectly alright to rip him to shreds and then John McCain calls and apologises. Somehow, the line between the President of the United States and a talk show host has changed from the talk show host of David Frost’s time and Nixon’s time. It has all levelled out in a way, so if you’re asking: “Could it [the interview] happen again today?” I don’t think so… the lines have blurred so much now.