British actor Michael Sheen appears to be making a career out of making other, more famous actors look good.
In 2006’s The Queen (also written by Peter Morgan), he played U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to Helen Mirren’s Queen Elizabeth II. Mirren went on to win an Academy Award for her performance.
In Frost/Nixon he stars as the lesser-known half of the title pair: British interviewer and talk show host David Frost. The “Nixon” of the title is, of course, U.S. President Richard Nixon (played by Frank Langella). The play is based on a series of 1977 television interviews, which culminated in Nixon admitting he’d “let the American people down” with his involvement in the Watergate break-in. It was the closest thing to an apology or an admittance of guilt that the public had heard from the disgraced president.
Langella vs. Sheen: an Acting Showdown
Langella is deservedly garnering praise for his portrayal of Nixon, the man who almost single-handedly created the public cynicism about politicians that persists to this day. Although Sheen and others connected with the play have been nominated for awards, Langella so far is the only winner, and he’s won multiple times, including a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor. He’s currently nominated for a Golden Globe, and is likely to be up for an Oscar when those nominations are announced.
But Langella really has the easier job of the two actors. Nixon is bombastic, larger than life. Frost, as the screenplay is written, spends much of his time reacting – to Nixon, to his producer John Birt (Matthew Macfayden) and to the two American researchers he enlists to land this big fish (Oliver Platt and Chris Rockwell).
In one extended scene, Nixon, drunk-dials Frost late at night and begins ranting. Sheen’s job is purely to listen; he says almost nothing but his eyes show his horror at this glimpse into Nixon’s soul. It’s an incredibly subtle performance and one that must have been doubly difficult to pull off onstage.
Frost/Nixon: Truth vs. Fiction
The real David Frost has criticized the film, objecting to its portrayal of him as a talking hair-do and pointing out that he’d interviewed several political heavyweights before Nixon. It’s likely that Nixon would have quite a lot to say about it if he were still alive.
But it’s a mistake to take historical dramas too seriously or to look to them for perfect accuracy: that’s what books and newspapers and documentaries are for. As Frost says, the changes were likely made to make him look like more of an underdog, which makes his eventual triumph more exciting.
Unfortunately for Michael Sheen, while Oscar voters love underdogs, they love actors playing famous people even more.
