Five previous winners of the Best Actor Oscar paid tribute to each of the 2008 nominees last Sunday before the award made its way into the hands of the predictably churlish Sean Penn. While each of the tributes from previous winners were undoubtedly heartfelt, there was a notably awkward moment at the outset of the accolades when Michael Douglas spoke about Frank Langella's performance in "Frost/Nixon."
In praising Langella's rendition of the 37th President, Douglas claimed that compared to Langella, all other thespian incarnations of Nixon fell short...or something to that effect...
For openers, Douglas was standing next to Anthony Hopkins when he uttered that thoughtless and insensitive remark. Hopkins played Nixon in the flawed, but frequently compelling, "Nixon," in 1995. In fact, Hopkins garnered a Best Actor Oscar nod for his efforts. So the gracelessness of Douglas' words on the world's biggest stage was downright staggering.
To his credit, Hopkins didn't throttle Spartacus' kid on live television (THAT would have been entertaining...), and believe me, even though Hopkins appears slight, I'll take odds on him against Gordon Gekko anytime...
But there's another thing...I've seen both movies, and while I admired and enjoyed Langella's Nixon, I remembered Hopkins' immersion in the role as especially riveting and powerful...in fact, I found him far more convincing in conveying the essence of the man than Frank Langella.
To check that I wasn't kidding myself, I went onto Youtube and watched clips from the Hopkins' version of Tricky Dick. My instincts were correct. Hopkins didn't look like Nixon, he didn't sound like Nixon, but he truly captured the core of the man with all of his pathetic yearning for acclaim and chilling eruptions of malevolence.
Langella's Nixon seemed courtly, even urbane. Hopkins' Nixon was clumsy and uneasy with himself, desperate for affection and acceptance, but simultaneously pushing away his long-suffeing wife and children. Hopkins brilliantly and poignantly captured the torment of a man whose very soul was buckling under the weight of a lifetime of seething at wounds, slights, and a bottomless sense of inadequacy that no electoral landslide could ever satiate.
I felt sympathy, empathy even for Hopkins' Nixon. Langella's Nixon seemed more like an especially clever con man trying to pull one over on Frost and the T.V. audience.
The overall film of "Nixon" is a mess. It should have been cut by an hour and dispensed with the inevitable Oliver Stone conspiracy theories. However, at the center of the sprawling and undisciplined opus is a truly shattering performance by Anthony Hopkins...THE definitive Nixon in my estimation...
Anonymous on February 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
I made a comment to one of the guys here when Douglas made that comment (with Hopkins right next to him)....Made me recall when you took Kevin and I to see "Nixon" in '95 in the theater with all the blue-hairs ("Agnes would you like a peach?")...Good times.