Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard interview

RON Howard talks about directing Frost/Nixon, researching the history behind the iconic moment in history and why the real-life interviews left such an impression on him as he was growing up. He was speaking at a UK press conference...

Q. How did you come to the play and what attracted to you to the story enough to turn it into a film. Was it the extreme clash in their personalities?

Ron Howard: Well, it’s a blend of things. The interviews had meant something to me. I recalled them vividly. They were cathartic for me at that time, in a number of ways. But the history of it, while interesting, and the political relevance, while pertinent and meaningful to me, was secondary to the fact that … I love working with great actors and complicated characters to play and this was detailed and specific and entertaining on a lot of levels with two fascinating characters. They were icons, really, but what Peter Morgan does in his writing and what these guys did with the play, was give it so much dimension that I could just see the potential to go even further in film.

Q. Was this the beginning of trial by television and can you reflect on the way the medium has used the weapon David Frost handed it…

Ron Howard: Well, it certainly was a shocker to witness. We’d never seen a political figure from any country grilled in this way, beyond glimpses you may get at congressional hearings. But for a president of the United States, who had been forced to resign, to go beyond the tough question and be pursued the way he was, was extraordinary and to get that kind of emotion that goes beyond the rhetoric and his skill at avoiding answers was really important.

For me, as a viewer who went into those, not as a Nixon hater at all, but as a young citizen confused and frustrated about everything that was going on, those moments captured on television were significant. Now, with the images that are blasted everywhere via YouTube, there’s so much of it now that it all turns into white noise. It’s really hard to discern what’s going on. I’m still trying to navigate for myself what’s going on in the world and my country just now. How do you even determine what’s what? It’s sort of worse now than ever.

Q. How much of the iconic interviews was recreated from the broadcasts themselves and how much from talking to those people who were there?

Ron Howard: That process began during the writing of the play and the early stages of that. But one of the things that I double checked before I committed finally to making the movie was that the really key turning points, those lines that you remember, where the tide shifts, I wanted to make sure they came out of the interviews transcripts and they do. That was important to me. Of course, a lot of creative liberties are taken in terms of their private lives. I felt that was entirely fair and appropriate in a drama, because what we were offering was still an authentic sense of what made each of these characters tick… just to go further.

But we continued doing our research into the filming and came up with a lot of interesting details that tended to humanize all the characters. I really wanted all of the supporting characters to be vivid individuals as well and occasionally shift the perspective to their characters’ eyes so we would be experiencing this through them. I thought that would make it more emotional for an audience, to suddenly relate to it through these guys.

Q. Did you have to change your approach to filmmaking in any way?

Ron Howard: One thing that I wanted to do that was unusual for me in terms of the approach was that we did almost no rehearsal. I would give the camera guys a rough idea of where the actors might go and then we pretty much rolled the cameras. I might say, we might shoot this rehearsal, but we were pretty much just diving in. It seemed to give everything an energy and keep everything fresh.

Q. Why do you think people are taking more of an interest in politics?

Ron Howard: I think generally culture leads and the arts follow. Everybody is a bit more politicised and you are seeing the politicos on television more. Campaigns last forever and the idea is that the candidates have to become these folksy, political figures. In the post-9/11 United States, people are asking a lot of question, artists are asking a lot of questions and wondering if they might be able to stimulate a conversation about it through their work.