‘All The President’s Men‘ At 50: Key Players Describe A Prescient Look At Today’s Dysfunctional Political Landscape

In a typical three-part bid — including All nan Presidents’ Men, Taxi Driver and Rocky — Deadline is looking backmost a half-century to 1976, an unthinkable twelvemonth for movies.

“We saw this movie arsenic thing that had a different level to it. It was monumental,” says All nan President’s Men’s subordinate shaper Michael Britton. “Most movies are movies — they’re intermezo — but this felt important.”

Fifty years on, All nan President’s Men remains monumental: a testament to basal filmmaking, a cautionary communicative astir nan corruption of power, and an illustration of filmmakers astatine nan apical of their crippled channeling nan excavation of governmental ungraded into an intelligent and satisfying thriller. The movie is often cited arsenic nan golden modular of movies astir journalism.

Alan J. Pakula’s 1976 play starred Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman arsenic nan intrepid Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who helped expose nan Watergate ungraded that led to nan downfall of President Richard Nixon. The movie meticulously recreated their steps successful linking nan Watergate break-in and Republican ‘dirty tricks’ run to nan highest echelons of powerfulness successful America. Based connected Woodward and Bernstein’s book of nan aforesaid name, nan William Goldman-scripted movie would spell connected to people 8 Oscar nominations, winning four, and taking a hefty $70 cardinal astatine nan container agency disconnected an estimated $5-8 cardinal budget.

[Robert Redford] ne'er accepted things arsenic they were and was ever looking for what was nether nan surface.

For many, nan film’s snapshot of nan ungraded would spell connected to encapsulate nan full affair, which successful reality lasted years. Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post’s longtime movie professional who is now penning a book connected nan movie, has called it a metonym for Watergate “that from nan infinitesimal it opened seemed to fuse seamlessly pinch backstage representation and corporate myth.”

Jake Tapper, CNN’s lead Washington anchor, says: “I was raised successful a governmental household, wherever nan soiled politicians of my Philly younker were often discussed, and nan Watergate hearings were watched unrecorded connected nan family black-and-white TV successful nan surviving room. All nan President’s Men distilled this move to 1 that was easy to understand.”

Making All nan President’s Men accessible was successful ample portion down to Redford, nan driving unit down nan project.

Says Hornaday, “Bob is nan eventual disruptor, and he was a disruptor almost from nan very opening of his career. The infinitesimal he started to execute immoderate benignant of occurrence aliases personage he leveraged it to do independent activity and his ain independent productions, which often were critiques of American society. Anybody who knew him, aliases interviewed him, knew nan aforesaid thing, which is that he was ever going against nan grain. He ne'er accepted things arsenic they were and was ever looking for what was nether nan surface.”

Britton, an worker astatine Redford’s accumulation institution Wildwood Enterprises and 1 of nan past surviving unit members who worked connected nan movie from commencement to finish, remembers a sense of jeopardy.

“There was ever nan constituent that location are folks retired location who do not needfully want this communicative continued. Even up until nan clip we did nan film’s premiere. We took nan big, dense cans to nan Kennedy Center, but I really had a backup transcript that I kept successful my room astatine nan Watergate conscionable successful lawsuit personification sabotaged it.”

Redford had first go inspired to show nan communicative aft talking to Washington journalists during nan promotion of 1972 movie The Candidate. The character splashed retired connected nan authorities to Woodward and Bernstein’s book — getting location earlier co-star Hoffman — recognizing nan imaginable successful a movie astir journalists methodically pursuing a vulnerable but captious truth. Paramount turned nan task down, but Warner Bros. stepped up.

“I ne'er worked connected a image that truthful overmuch thought went into,” Redford said astatine nan time. “A batch of it was preventive thought, not truthful overmuch ‘do this’ arsenic ‘don’t do that’ — don’t make it a movie astir Nixon aliases Watergate. Don’t return a partisan position. Don’t group retired to observe nan press. Don’t beryllium excessively impressed pinch nan history involved. Don’t beryllium sloppy pinch facts. Don’t autumn successful emotion pinch The Washington Post. Do make a movie astir nan press, astir 2 reporters who did a difficult occupation of reporting and did it well.”

It was tense astatine times, because Bob liked to spell successful caller pinch nan scene. Dustin wanted to effort each different measurement to do a scene.

The journalists’ process was astatine nan bosom of Redford’s vision. Leading CNN anchor Dana Bash, who later worked pinch Bernstein, says of nan duo: “They person unique styles and approaches to their work, yet are sympatico successful what matters — nan relentless pursuit of nan truth. That is existent for immoderate investigative journalist, but they obviously broke nan mold.”

Also, Redford saw a melodramatic opportunity successful their differences, noting, “When I publication an article astir them, I realized 1 was a Jew and 1 was a WASP, 1 feline was a Republican, nan different was a radical; 1 feline was a very bully writer, nan different wasn’t truthful good… They didn’t for illustration each other, but they had to activity together.”

Redford and Hoffman learned each other’s lines to create synergy and spontaneity, but their differences could lead to an constituent of friction, says Britton. “It was tense astatine times, because Bob liked to spell successful caller pinch nan scene. Dustin wanted to effort each different measurement to do a scene. So, they had very different styles. As a producer, [Redford] besides had to beryllium attuned to nan magnitude of clip things were taking.”

In nan mid ’70s, Redford was possibly astatine nan highest of his powers arsenic a starring man, and his stardust was evident, says Alan Shayne, the film’s casting head and erstwhile WB TV President, who is now 100 years old.

“When Redford was connected nan group it was for illustration location was a spotlight connected him each nan time; not a existent 1 but an imagined one. He was conscionable a large star. Light benignant of followed him everyplace he went.” Hoffman, he recalls, was “brilliant” and “a genius” but could beryllium difficult successful really exacting he was.

Ultimately, it was Jason Robards, who portrayed nan paper’s revered editor Ben Bradlee, who took location nan film’s sole acting Oscar. According to movie lore, dozens of A-list actors — from Burt Lancaster to Robert Mitchum — were considered for nan part. Shayne, who had worked pinch Robarts before, has a different recollection. “Everybody successful Hollywood makes lists. I ne'er made a list. I met Bradlee and thought, ‘My god, it’s Jason.’ They had nan aforesaid benignant of voice, aforesaid benignant of look. It was amazing. I retrieve going backmost to Hollywood and everyone connected nan image was very excited. They said, ‘Who’s going to play Bradlee?’ I said, ‘Jason Robards’. My friend John Calley [the legendary longtime WB executive], who was caput of accumulation astatine nan time, said, ‘We don’t want Robards, he’s washed up’. I said ‘John, that’s who it is.’ Later on, Bob [Redford] claimed he was responsible for casting Jason owed to their friendship. Who knows.”

The film’s authenticity is often lauded arsenic a awesome portion of its success. “Pakula and Redford were perpetually calling Woodward and Bernstein during nan production,” says Hornaday. “They were taking scenes wholesale from nan book, they looked astatine Bob and Carl’s notes, they interviewed them for hours.”

And Shayne saw it first-hand, saying, “With nan thief of nan superb George Jenkins [who won nan Oscar for Production Design], Alan recreated nan full newsroom of nan Post. The wastepaper baskets were filled pinch existent scraps of newspaper. He moreover wanted nan extras to beryllium existent actors, which wasn’t an easy point to propulsion off. There was nan changeless emotion of a unrecorded newsroom. Jason [Robards] would activity from nan newsroom agency moreover erstwhile nan cameras weren’t rolling.”

The film’s subtle yet propulsive people was nan activity of Oscar-winning composer David Shire, who 2 years earlier had composed nan people for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. Shire recalls: “I went to spot nan movie successful post-production, and past I almost talked myself retired of doing it, because I said to Alan, ‘You know, it’s a fabulous movie, but it has specified a documentary feel. Music whitethorn moreover wounded it.’” Shire initially struggled and Pakula rejected aggregate themes. “After a time, Pakula explained to me, ‘The movie isn’t a documentary — it’s a communicative astir 2 men whose hearts are beating faster and faster arsenic they spell toward their quest.’ That turned nan ray connected for me; erstwhile I thought astir a bosom beating faster and faster, that beat came to me, and nan taxable grew from there. Suddenly, it wasn’t a documentary anymore successful my mind. That was 1 of nan astir contained and important notes I sewage from a director.”

The resonance of All nan President’s Men remains arsenic beardown arsenic ever now, moreover if galore Deadline said to position Donald Trump’s presidency arsenic being corrupt connected an wholly different level to Nixon’s.

“I’ve interviewed a adjacent number of Watergate figures for my book, galore of them Republicans,” says Hornaday. “They’re gobsmacked astatine what’s happening coming successful America.” The ‘dirty tricks’ of Republican leaders astatine that clip person “metastasized into thing profoundly anti-democratic and dangerous,” she says.

Actor Mark Ruffalo precocious wrote astir nan movie done nan lens of Paramount’s impending woody for Warner Bros: “As we watch Hollywood tube towards a Paramount — Warner Bros. merger, All nan President’s Men should punctual america of what whitethorn beryllium lost. This movie would not person been made successful a Paramount-Warner Bros.-CNN -Trump era.”

Bash notes: “The movie is simply a reminder that nan answers don’t ever travel quickly, and pushing for truth successful nan look of guidance from powerful group is scary. Having an statement that has your backmost is everything.”

For Tapper, “All nan President’s Men is astir a infinitesimal successful time, because — arsenic we’ve seen —  Presidents engaged successful deception aliases corruption successful nan modern era person a Praetorian defender successful partisan and ideological ‘news’ media, to opportunity thing of influential societal media trolls. That said, nan film’s connection of nan request for journalists, and their editors and publishers, to guidelines patient pinch those pinch facts connected their side, moreover if they guidelines alone, is conscionable arsenic resonant today.” —Andreas Wiseman