The Tony-award winning play, and soon-to-be major motion picture, Frost/Nixon, tells the story of the history-making interviews David Frost conducted with former Pres. Richard Nixon. The play has a “Catch Me If You Can” quailty of interviewer, (Frost) chasing subject, (Nixon) with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the biggest “get” of the decade at stake.
As Matea Gold writes in today’s LATimes “Before Monica dished to Barbara, before Mel parried with Diane, before Paris spilled to Larry, Richard Nixon faced off against David Frost.”
Gold details the money that almost, and eventually did, change hands. “NBC offered more than $300,000 for the interview but was outbid by Frost… he promised Nixon $600,000, plus 20% of the profit – a total estimated payday of $1 million.”
In his corner, Nixon had “former White House press aide Diane Sawyer” who was “compiling briefing books, ones that Nixon reviewed extensively in preparation for the interviews.” In fact, Gold writes, “Frost’s exhaustive questioning of Nixon marked the rise of a now-familiar genre: the television confessional.” The programs first aired in 1977.
Filming begins later this month, on the motion picture adaptation of the play.