1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,810
[Music]

2
00:00:06,279 --> 00:00:08,400
Frost Nixon is a very interesting case

3
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:10,960
study in terms of production design we

4
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:12,240
didn't have a lot of money we were

5
00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,240
shooting it like an independent yet it

6
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,800
took place in 1977 we were shooting in

7
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,080
Los Angeles that's where most of the

8
00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:21,039
movie took place $600,000 that's a

9
00:00:21,039 --> 00:00:23,439
fortune 200 on signature don't worry

10
00:00:23,439 --> 00:00:25,840
about the money Michael corn BL who was

11
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,840
the production designer uh on Apollo 13

12
00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:30,439
and How the Grinch Stole christas and

13
00:00:30,439 --> 00:00:31,920
Ransom and some other projects that I

14
00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:33,840
did he a great collaborator and

15
00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,800
experienced he was excited about the

16
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:36,719
fact that there were going to be some

17
00:00:36,719 --> 00:00:38,680
limitations but it turned out there were

18
00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,239
a lot of very very important pivotal

19
00:00:41,239 --> 00:00:44,120
decisions to be made one of them had to

20
00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,039
do with how we were going to present the

21
00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:48,840
70s we started looking at the research

22
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,719
photos and it was surprising to us they

23
00:00:51,719 --> 00:00:54,640
were making us laugh because the colors

24
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,079
were so bright the oranges were so vivid

25
00:00:58,079 --> 00:01:00,000
this is what people were wearing and

26
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,719
this is the way they were decorating

27
00:01:01,719 --> 00:01:06,799
hotels and lobbies and at first I

28
00:01:06,799 --> 00:01:08,520
thought that was hilarious and we should

29
00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,159
just do it and Michael was the first one

30
00:01:11,159 --> 00:01:12,880
to say you know there's an undercurrent

31
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,320
of tragedy and importance and pressure

32
00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:19,840
on this story and I'm I'm worried we're

33
00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,040
going to be smiling too much about the

34
00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:23,960
goofy 7s background and of course we

35
00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:26,320
have to evoke it but I think we have to

36
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:28,920
be careful about

37
00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,600
it he was right and we toned down the

38
00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:34,720
pallet it's still very evocative of the

39
00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,759
period sure but we just didn't play into

40
00:01:37,759 --> 00:01:40,680
the joke of how different our

41
00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:42,840
sensibilities are today from what they

42
00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,640
were in the in the 70s that was one of

43
00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:50,159
the early tonal decisions about the way

44
00:01:50,159 --> 00:01:52,280
that movie would look that also

45
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,960
influenced my sense of of the comedy in

46
00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,240
the movie and there is a lot of humor

47
00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,439
but I I thought Michael was right and I

48
00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:03,200
decided not to play on' 7s humor not to

49
00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,960
let the haird be too crazy or the mini

50
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:10,399
skirts Too Short um and um uh and that

51
00:02:10,399 --> 00:02:12,400
was a very important contribution on his

52
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,440
part then there was another we were

53
00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,200
working on a small sound stages in Los

54
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,239
Angeles where independent films get made

55
00:02:19,239 --> 00:02:23,000
not the big Hollywood Sound stages

56
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,640
and we're on a tight

57
00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:28,319
schedule but we were going to need to

58
00:02:28,319 --> 00:02:30,959
build some sets because we had some some

59
00:02:30,959 --> 00:02:32,760
scenes with a tremendous amount of page

60
00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,480
count and that means lots and lots of

61
00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,599
pages and different scenes being shot

62
00:02:38,599 --> 00:02:42,560
and sometimes it's more efficient

63
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,519
because you can shoot so much faster on

64
00:02:44,519 --> 00:02:47,640
a stage that's built than you can in a

65
00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:50,480
practical location so we decided it was

66
00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,959
coste effective to build some sets

67
00:02:52,959 --> 00:02:56,879
there's a very important powerful phone

68
00:02:56,879 --> 00:03:00,159
call scene between Richard ni in the

69
00:03:00,159 --> 00:03:03,519
middle of the night in his house in

70
00:03:03,519 --> 00:03:09,120
Orange County um in s Clemente and David

71
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,239
Frost um from his hotel suite where he's

72
00:03:12,239 --> 00:03:14,879
doing research it's this seven or eight

73
00:03:14,879 --> 00:03:17,599
page sequence which means it's 6 7 8

74
00:03:17,599 --> 00:03:19,799
minutes long as a

75
00:03:19,799 --> 00:03:21,959
scene it's in the

76
00:03:21,959 --> 00:03:23,920
play it's

77
00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:27,159
powerful um kind of a turning point

78
00:03:27,159 --> 00:03:29,400
thematically in a lot of ways reveals a

79
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:30,519
tremendous

80
00:03:30,519 --> 00:03:34,280
amount um in terms of both

81
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,680
characters I'll have

82
00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,760
um a

83
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,000
cheeseburger that sounds

84
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,760
good I used to love

85
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,519
cheeseburgers but Dr lram made me give

86
00:03:58,519 --> 00:04:00,239
them up and switched me to cottage

87
00:04:00,239 --> 00:04:02,400
cheese and pineapple

88
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,439
instead he calls them my Hawaiian

89
00:04:05,439 --> 00:04:07,439
Burgers but they don't taste like

90
00:04:07,439 --> 00:04:10,879
burgers at all it tastes like stof and I

91
00:04:10,879 --> 00:04:12,799
went to Michael cornbleth the production

92
00:04:12,799 --> 00:04:15,519
designer and I said you know I would

93
00:04:15,519 --> 00:04:17,840
like to shoot both sides of this phone

94
00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:20,600
call at once I don't want either actor

95
00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,639
to ever feel like they're off camera I I

96
00:04:23,639 --> 00:04:25,400
I want them to be acting and performing

97
00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,160
with each other 100% all of the time I

98
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:29,560
want to be able to put two cameras on

99
00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,440
one one set and two cameras on the other

100
00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:33,960
set and let these guys do what they did

101
00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:35,600
night after night which is just play the

102
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:37,080
hell out of the

103
00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,360
scene well that meant that he had to

104
00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,039
build both the San Clemente

105
00:04:44,039 --> 00:04:48,320
house and the hotel suite that Frost was

106
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:49,720
living in and preparing for the

107
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,880
interviews in you know in close

108
00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,440
proximity and it was a tremendous

109
00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,960
exercise in professionalism to make that

110
00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,360
work so that we could still light from

111
00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,199
the outside um it influenced the kind of

112
00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:06,440
stage that we had to find and it even

113
00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,759
influenced uh the way in which the sets

114
00:05:09,759 --> 00:05:12,960
were redesigned and built so that they

115
00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:14,720
would look like they had the scope the

116
00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,680
scope and scale of the real San Clemente

117
00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:18,560
house but they could fit on this stage

118
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,520
so there was a bit of Illusion in all of

119
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,520
it in order to facilitate this big goal

120
00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,280
I had which was for these two actors to

121
00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:27,400
play this scene out as they had on stage

122
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,639
night after night for a year and and

123
00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:34,319
Michael he he he made it happen and

124
00:05:34,319 --> 00:05:36,280
those were not the only scenes we did in

125
00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:40,160
those sets we shot a lot uh in in both

126
00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:42,199
of those uh in both of those sets and it

127
00:05:42,199 --> 00:05:44,080
was a tremendous day I'll never forget

128
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,800
it four cameras we wound up doing um you

129
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,400
know that scene in in a little less than

130
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:52,440
a day and it had been previously

131
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,199
scheduled for a day

132
00:05:54,199 --> 00:05:57,039
each uh and so it was tremendously

133
00:05:57,039 --> 00:06:00,479
efficient for for our Indie mind Ed a

134
00:06:00,479 --> 00:06:02,560
movie production it was great for the

135
00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,800
actors and and I know that all of that

136
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,240
was made possible because of um

137
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:09,960
Michael's um you know his

138
00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,759
professionalism and his willingness to

139
00:06:12,759 --> 00:06:15,440
compromise a little bit on his end to

140
00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,919
help the director you know get uh get

141
00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:20,199
what he was looking for and shoot in the

142
00:06:20,199 --> 00:06:22,880
way that he wanted to

143
00:06:23,420 --> 00:06:26,579
[Music]

144
00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:31,000
shoot the style of frost Nixon in my

145
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,360
mind needed to work in opposition to

146
00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,240
what it had begun as which was a

147
00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,280
play and so I I wanted to shoot it in a

148
00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:44,720
way that was um you know much

149
00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,360
more a you know a kind of a behind the

150
00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,520
scenes look at what the frost Nickson

151
00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:53,800
interviews might have might have been

152
00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:55,360
like I wanted to just give a little bit

153
00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,840
of that flavor um and uh and I also

154
00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:00,560
didn't want

155
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,680
um Michael Sheen and Frank langela to be

156
00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,160
forced into a lot of rehearsals they'

157
00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:08,479
done the play so many times and and sure

158
00:07:08,479 --> 00:07:09,720
there were some rewrites and some

159
00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:14,440
changes but certainly in their scenes I

160
00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,120
I really didn't want them um you know

161
00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,319
falling back on their their theater

162
00:07:22,319 --> 00:07:24,520
performances which you know as soon as

163
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,800
they'd become a little bit more tired

164
00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:28,120
you'd get that so I wanted as much

165
00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:30,520
freshness as possible

166
00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,039
also Michael Sheen and Frank Lela fell

167
00:07:34,039 --> 00:07:38,160
into a pattern while doing the the play

168
00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,560
where they didn't talk to each other off

169
00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,960
stage they only dealt with each other in

170
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,120
character that in their sort of

171
00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,599
adversarial roles you know and they

172
00:07:48,599 --> 00:07:50,560
liked each other perfectly well but they

173
00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,639
just found that as

174
00:07:52,639 --> 00:07:55,520
actors the the less they communicated

175
00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,840
out of character the more focused and

176
00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,440
interesting and specific and effective

177
00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:03,479
the performances were on stage and when

178
00:08:03,479 --> 00:08:07,039
I heard about that um I decided to

179
00:08:07,039 --> 00:08:09,319
embrace it and I really kept them away

180
00:08:09,319 --> 00:08:11,240
from one another we had a two-e

181
00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:13,840
rehearsal period but I never rehearsed

182
00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,479
their scenes together ever I would talk

183
00:08:16,479 --> 00:08:18,680
through those scenes with each of them

184
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,800
separately and I would rehearse their

185
00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,319
scenes and sometimes even stage them and

186
00:08:23,319 --> 00:08:26,280
choreograph them uh with the their you

187
00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,879
know the other key characters but I kept

188
00:08:28,879 --> 00:08:30,440
them away from one another look when

189
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,640
you're in office you got to do a lot of

190
00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,120
things sometimes that are not always in

191
00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,839
the strictest sense of the law legal but

192
00:08:37,839 --> 00:08:39,560
you do them because they're in the

193
00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:41,200
greater interests of the nation right

194
00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:42,760
wait just so I understand correctly are

195
00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:44,480
you really saying that in certain

196
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,800
situations the president can decide

197
00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,080
whether it's in the best interests of

198
00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,839
the nation and then do something illegal

199
00:08:50,839 --> 00:08:52,959
I'm saying that when the president does

200
00:08:52,959 --> 00:08:55,839
it that means it's not illegal I think

201
00:08:55,839 --> 00:08:58,240
it brought an energy and a sense of

202
00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,079
Discovery and and also a you know a

203
00:09:01,079 --> 00:09:03,720
Feeling Again that we were we were sort

204
00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,839
of witnessing something uh unfold not

205
00:09:06,839 --> 00:09:09,519
seeing you know a presented story which

206
00:09:09,519 --> 00:09:11,120
is uh the experience you have when you

207
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:12,230
see a

208
00:09:12,230 --> 00:09:16,749
[Music]

209
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,360
play with frost Nixon you know I chose a

210
00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,640
very naturalistic style and during the

211
00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,040
course of making that movie I almost

212
00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:27,399
never

213
00:09:27,399 --> 00:09:29,959
rehearsed uh we

214
00:09:29,959 --> 00:09:32,160
set up a couple of cameras put them in a

215
00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,399
position and basically walked the actors

216
00:09:35,399 --> 00:09:37,640
in and started

217
00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,519
shooting very rarely rehearsed we didn't

218
00:09:40,519 --> 00:09:43,040
really plan the shots I let the camera

219
00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,160
operators sort of uh have a documentary

220
00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,440
experience for the first take or two and

221
00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,240
they they would the operators would

222
00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,959
discover um you know interesting pans

223
00:09:53,959 --> 00:09:57,399
rack focuses uh you know um look

224
00:09:57,399 --> 00:09:58,800
sometimes they'd wind up photographing

225
00:09:58,800 --> 00:09:59,959
each other

226
00:09:59,959 --> 00:10:04,360
but uh they were both very Savvy and uh

227
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:05,959
and you know they got a lot of

228
00:10:05,959 --> 00:10:10,760
interesting found moments but I also had

229
00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:15,560
goals um staging goals editorial goals

230
00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:18,880
certain sections through my notation you

231
00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,880
know were were sort of meant to be two

232
00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:23,000
or three lines playing together I knew I

233
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,240
wanted that kind of connection I wanted

234
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,399
a pan camera pan uh you know from one

235
00:10:28,399 --> 00:10:29,839
character to the other

236
00:10:29,839 --> 00:10:32,320
and when it didn't happen naturally

237
00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,079
during the course of that the shooting

238
00:10:35,079 --> 00:10:37,320
with a scene like the one we we worked

239
00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,680
with today or many other uh key scenes

240
00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:42,079
in Frost

241
00:10:42,079 --> 00:10:45,360
Nixon then I would begin to orchestrate

242
00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,120
it a little bit and as the as the day

243
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,720
would go along as the scene would unfold

244
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,920
I'd become more and more specific about

245
00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,040
what I wanted to go for with the camera

246
00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,600
to make sure that I was completing um

247
00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:02,200
you know that foundational set of ideas

248
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,200
that I thought we needed uh to you know

249
00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,839
to make the scene um you know come come

250
00:11:08,839 --> 00:11:11,839
together in a powerful way and if it but

251
00:11:11,839 --> 00:11:15,519
if it happened in a spontaneous way I

252
00:11:15,519 --> 00:11:17,440
got very excited about that and I I

253
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,079
would note that on my shot list and um

254
00:11:22,079 --> 00:11:23,800
uh you know and and at the end of the

255
00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:25,360
day a lot of it was about making sure

256
00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,920
that I had at least two good looks at

257
00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:30,959
every moment or line of dialogue in a

258
00:11:30,959 --> 00:11:32,839
scene and then I trusted that we could

259
00:11:32,839 --> 00:11:34,519
take that to the editing room and build

260
00:11:34,519 --> 00:11:36,600
it that's the first time I ever worked

261
00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,000
that way more often it's it's you know

262
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,120
it's it's carefully thought out um and

263
00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,480
refined on the day discovered on the day

264
00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,639
and that's very very exciting but it's

265
00:11:47,639 --> 00:11:50,440
also um you know a a little more of a

266
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:52,560
choreographed uh relationship between

267
00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:55,360
the actors the camera and you the

268
00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,140
objectives of the scene

269
00:11:58,140 --> 00:12:03,120
[Music]

270
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:04,920
it's interesting that we were talking

271
00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,360
earlier about Cinderella Man and

272
00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,279
breaking down the the approach that I

273
00:12:10,279 --> 00:12:13,320
that I took with u those fights because

274
00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,079
I wanted the different boxing matches to

275
00:12:16,079 --> 00:12:18,320
be presented in a slightly different way

276
00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,399
stylistically to reflect something as

277
00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:22,079
they relate to the character I had done

278
00:12:22,079 --> 00:12:24,519
a similar thing with the fires in

279
00:12:24,519 --> 00:12:28,240
Backdraft where each was designed to

280
00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:30,480
represent uh you know a different kind

281
00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:35,279
of visceral um relationship with the

282
00:12:35,279 --> 00:12:37,399
fire the fear the

283
00:12:37,399 --> 00:12:41,959
heroism uh and um when I saw Frost Nixon

284
00:12:41,959 --> 00:12:43,480
the

285
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,720
play I knew I I wanted to make it as a

286
00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,480
movie I I kept feeling that I just

287
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,839
wanted to jump up on stage you know with

288
00:12:51,839 --> 00:12:55,600
a steady Cam and start applying camera

289
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,160
movement and lens choices and edit

290
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,639
torial possibilities to these incredible

291
00:13:02,639 --> 00:13:04,639
scenes that Peter Morgan had written you

292
00:13:04,639 --> 00:13:07,279
know that were inspired by and sometimes

293
00:13:07,279 --> 00:13:10,399
directly taken from the transcripts the

294
00:13:10,399 --> 00:13:13,320
play was had had an intensity and a

295
00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:15,160
humor and I thought the combination of

296
00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,880
that along with of course the truth of

297
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,000
the of the story and the Insight on a

298
00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,320
kind of sociopolitical level you know I

299
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,199
just thought it was so entertaining and

300
00:13:25,199 --> 00:13:27,560
and fresh and could be very very

301
00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:30,680
cinematic so Peter Morgan always talked

302
00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:33,600
about it as though it was a boxing match

303
00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:38,199
um and Salvatore Totino and I had Fairly

304
00:13:38,199 --> 00:13:40,560
recently made Cinderella Man only a few

305
00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:43,639
years before and we talked a lot about

306
00:13:43,639 --> 00:13:45,760
the interview scenes and I once again

307
00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,519
decided that I wanted as much as I could

308
00:13:48,519 --> 00:13:50,959
to differentiate the

309
00:13:50,959 --> 00:13:55,399
scenes um I wanted some scenes to remind

310
00:13:55,399 --> 00:13:57,600
us that it was a television show to use

311
00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,199
the cameras a lot in the foreground or

312
00:14:00,199 --> 00:14:02,199
in the background to to give you the

313
00:14:02,199 --> 00:14:04,480
feeling that this was just one big giant

314
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,680
TV show that was that was being put on

315
00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:10,600
and uh and and they were sort of reduced

316
00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,040
to being kind of characters in a program

317
00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,759
and and then I wanted some moments to

318
00:14:17,759 --> 00:14:22,040
feel very much like it was almost a it a

319
00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:24,079
boxing match it was it was combative in

320
00:14:24,079 --> 00:14:26,959
that way in those instances we would

321
00:14:26,959 --> 00:14:29,360
forget about the cameras and we'd be in

322
00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:31,880
with them but we'd use camera moves and

323
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,839
pans and jump cuts and similar ideas

324
00:14:35,839 --> 00:14:38,759
that we'd learn to use in Cinderella Man

325
00:14:38,759 --> 00:14:41,279
to try to give this verbal combat the

326
00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:44,120
same kind of visceral uh intensity and I

327
00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,000
found that it it really worked sometimes

328
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:48,279
I played

329
00:14:48,279 --> 00:14:51,399
scenes intentionally at a kind of a

330
00:14:51,399 --> 00:14:54,399
distance no singles and close-ups

331
00:14:54,399 --> 00:14:57,360
profiles over the shoulders they were

332
00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:59,399
feeling each other out they weren't

333
00:14:59,399 --> 00:15:01,680
really connecting I didn't I didn't want

334
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,480
you to feel that anybody had landed any

335
00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,839
real body blows um there there's another

336
00:15:06,839 --> 00:15:10,279
scene where uh you know Richard Nixon is

337
00:15:10,279 --> 00:15:14,320
basically you know just just destroying

338
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,839
uh Frost uh whatever Frost tries Nixon

339
00:15:17,839 --> 00:15:20,959
is just deflecting it and you know so I

340
00:15:20,959 --> 00:15:23,240
tried to use camera movement again there

341
00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,920
sort of moving in and pivoting with

342
00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,759
frost back to Nixon and it's you know

343
00:15:28,759 --> 00:15:32,600
it's Nixon who is controlling the tempo

344
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,759
of this conflict and uh so that idea of

345
00:15:35,759 --> 00:15:38,360
the sort of boxing U metaphor was

346
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,560
something that that Salvatore and I and

347
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,079
the editors again Dan Hanley and Mike

348
00:15:43,079 --> 00:15:47,040
Hill again they were nominated uh you

349
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,120
know tried to u to build upon and it was

350
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,720
uh it was it was very interesting by the

351
00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:55,560
last and most important

352
00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,240
scene um it was it was simple it was all

353
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:00,920
about close-ups it was all about the

354
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,000
eyes it was um you know these amazing

355
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,680
performances that these two actors had

356
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,639
been honing for a year on stage but

357
00:16:08,639 --> 00:16:12,399
presented in their most subtle and

358
00:16:12,399 --> 00:16:15,839
intimate um ways a performance level

359
00:16:15,839 --> 00:16:19,199
that was um you know that was uh um you

360
00:16:19,199 --> 00:16:21,800
know entirely about you know their

361
00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,079
innermost feelings at that point for

362
00:16:24,079 --> 00:16:27,399
frost it was a moment of validation and

363
00:16:27,399 --> 00:16:28,920
there were a couple of shots where

364
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:30,759
Michael Sheen played it beautifully but

365
00:16:30,759 --> 00:16:33,120
I tried to help just a little bit with

366
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,519
the camera by just shifting the camera

367
00:16:35,519 --> 00:16:38,519
angle for a moment out of the the the

368
00:16:38,519 --> 00:16:40,880
the the sort of the axis that we were on

369
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,680
the sort of the his ey line to frost

370
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,880
Frost's eyeline to Nixon and just sort

371
00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,759
of say this is a oh this is a this is a

372
00:16:48,759 --> 00:16:50,759
different moment and so I went for a

373
00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:53,000
little higher angle and looked down on

374
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:54,519
them a little bit and it was almost like

375
00:16:54,519 --> 00:16:58,600
a you know a separate discreet um a

376
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,120
moment of Revelation that he was he was

377
00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,240
actually going to win this moment he was

378
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,079
going to win this interview so I'm very

379
00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:08,000
very proud of the way the choreography

380
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,679
and the camera work given the fact that

381
00:17:10,679 --> 00:17:14,199
there was no staging there were you know

382
00:17:14,199 --> 00:17:16,919
two men and chairs facing each other uh

383
00:17:16,919 --> 00:17:19,799
and yet we found ways to make it um I

384
00:17:19,799 --> 00:17:24,280
think subtly cinematic and evocative of

385
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,240
what was going on scene to scene in in

386
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,840
in sort of different emotional ways

387
00:17:31,380 --> 00:17:34,529
[Music]

388
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,000
I

389
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,640
relearned the the power of the

390
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,360
performance and I was really glad that I

391
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:46,960
made Frost Nixon at a point in my career

392
00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:48,280
where I had more

393
00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,320
confidence um in terms of um the the

394
00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,039
cinema of the movie that the that

395
00:17:55,039 --> 00:17:57,080
potential I think earlier in my life I

396
00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,200
would have I would have said settled in

397
00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:03,039
on the actors too often for too long and

398
00:18:03,039 --> 00:18:06,919
instead of saving those moments uh for

399
00:18:06,919 --> 00:18:11,280
the their most um their most powerful um

400
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,520
opportunities in terms of just settling

401
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,240
in and concentrating on these actors but

402
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:15,960
I

403
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,120
relearned that uh there's there's there

404
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:20,520
is no

405
00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,440
more uh

406
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:29,559
powerful conveyor of uh emotion humor

407
00:18:29,559 --> 00:18:34,360
um um you know suspense than than what

408
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:35,480
great

409
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,799
actors uh performing great dialogue can

410
00:18:38,799 --> 00:18:42,440
can give uh a director I I

411
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:47,000
also uh um Frost Nixon was a studio

412
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,280
movie it was financed by Universal but

413
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,880
um the the agreement was that it it was

414
00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,400
going to be it was going to be financed

415
00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:59,000
planned and shot like like an indie and

416
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,440
um it it was the the fastest schedule

417
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,960
that I had dealt with in my feature film

418
00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:10,720
um career and I I was terrified going in

419
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,039
and ultimately I was energized by it and

420
00:19:13,039 --> 00:19:14,799
I realized that I've you know I've

421
00:19:14,799 --> 00:19:18,240
learned so much over the years um that

422
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,480
um through the planning through the

423
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:23,559
preparation uh it actually leaves me in

424
00:19:23,559 --> 00:19:26,400
a position to be able to to move quicker

425
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:28,360
and there's something energizing about

426
00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:30,360
that and it's certainly worked for frost

427
00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:34,080
Nixon so it was a kind of a confidence

428
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:38,559
builder for me uh and uh and it was also

429
00:19:38,559 --> 00:19:43,000
just a you know a a reminder that those

430
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,799
things that you sometimes fear actually

431
00:19:45,799 --> 00:19:50,120
can wind up being uh you know the forces

432
00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:53,600
that push you to you know another

433
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:58,880
perhaps higher creative plane