Richard Nixon faces his challenger after the heavyweight bout...
I had a troubling thought while watching Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, the film based on the play based on the infamous interviews between British TV host David Frost and former U.S. President Richard Milhouse Nixon. Though I haven't seen Peter Morgan's play (the original Broadway version of which, like the movie, also starred Michael Sheen and Frank Langella as Frost and Nixon, respectively), the medium of film doesn't appear to add much to the story behind "the trial Nixon never had". Nevertheless, I found myself riveted during the back-and-forth between the desperately ambitious interviewer and the desperately anxious president. Taken on its own, Frost/Nixon is thus a thoroughly engaging look into Nixon's most public attempt at redemption.
Which brings me back to that troubling thought: I realized an active imagination wasn't necessary to picture other U.S. presidents sitting in Nixon's chair, mumbling their veiled apologies like a little boy scolded after pushing his sister into the mud.
It must be a strange experience to be a head of state. The public (and/or the media) strips you of most human characteristics, like feelings and emotions, which of course makes you extremely vulnerable to personal attacks on your feelings and emotions. Some presidents were much better than others at hiding their wounds, but Nixon didn't appear to be one of them with his sweaty upper lip, his scowls disguised as smiles, and his disparaging remarks about his critics (often behind closed doors, which accelerated his downfall and has continued to haunt him over a decade after his death).
There's a temptation, actually, to consider the argument that Nixon's legacy was not defined by his policies but by his personality. After all, he was hardly the only president embroiled in controversy. Unlike our last two presidents, however, he was utterly pathetic at explaining his way out of it. Bill Clinton could charm his way out of a torture chamber if necessary, while George Bush doesn't seem to take anything seriously enough for us to expect him to carry on mature conversations, much less give logical excuses for his mistakes (a particular scene in W. comes to mind).
How would Clinton and Bush have fared against David Frost (or his contemporary version, Ryan Seacrest)? I'm not sure, but it's interesting to think about considering their shameful brotherhood. Yes, Clinton's transgressions were significantly more personal than Bush's bad deeds, but the point is that both left office with some owning up to do (and it should not not be forgotten that like Nixon, Clinton also faced impeachment). So we've had three presidents in a span of 30 years that, depending on who you ask, betrayed the oath of the country's highest office. Isn't it ironic?
Maybe not. Despite our best efforts to make them otherwise, these men have all been fallible humans like you and me. Their mistakes play out on a much bigger stage and their actions are analyzed like so many tabloid stars of the moment. They screw things up royally every now and then, and sometimes people die.
It's reason enough to make you protest, vote, or run for office yourself. You think somebody must be able to do a better job, despite so much evidence to the contrary (name me an honest politician and I'll name you two facing trial). Am I that cynical? No, not really. To the contrary, I'll be excitedly attending the inauguration of our 44th president in less than a month. There is a large serving of hope on my plate, but I've always found it goes well with a warm side of hesitancy, and after Frost/Nixon I have little reason to think otherwise.
What did you take home?
Forty years ago tomorrow, a courageous man was gunned down on a hotel balcony in Memphis, TN. Only 39 years old at the time of his assassination, he dared to dream about a future that seemed unfathomable to America at the time. Really - considering the context of the American culture around him in the 60's, does it register with you how forward-thinking he was? It would be like talking about moon colonies now - conceptually you can imagine it, but come on, not gonna happen, right? Granted, his dream hasn't been fully realized yet either, but we'll keep working at it. In the meantime, I have a dream of my own: a full-length, theatrical feature about this man's life and legacy.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was by all accounts enigmatic and extremely self-aware - even withdrawn at times. In other words, he is a layered character from which to develop a biography. As much as he's been celebrated as a martyr and hero, there have been those who've attempted posthumous character assassination as well, pegging him as an unfaithful husband and a political radical. Well, I've certainly revered him during my life for his positive work and bold spirit, but I'm not going to sit here and defend his flaws either, because he wasn't a saint and it doesn't really matter anyway. I've done (I think) some decent things in my years, but if you want to bring me down because I ran a stop sign last January, well I'm very sorry, but there's nothing I can do about that. Anyway, the point is that King is the kind of human (and that's all he was) that you don't meet everyday, and his life is worth another look regardless of what you think of him.
Are you wondering if there has really never been a movie about him? Well, there has - but a made-for-television biopic was produced about John Denver, too (no offense to John Denver fans). I'll admit that I haven't been able to get my hands on "King," the 1978 miniseries that apparently received positive reviews, nor have I seen HBO Films' Boycott from 2001. So yes, it's been done, and maybe those are great, but if Anna Nicole Smith has already had her day on the silver screen (Anna Nicole, coming soon to a theater near you), so should King.
It's not as if the issue has never come up before. Just last year, around the release of the completely underrated Talk to Me, Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post wrote a great piece, "Waiting for 'Action!'," about the overall lack of civil rights-era movies. She gives a nice review of what's been done and what's been proposed, but she only hints at countering the excuses put forth by studio executives: "Black-themed films don't play overseas. African American actors can't open movies. American filmgoers don't like dramas. Multi-character historical dramas are just too expensive." Obviously those are ridiculous reasons, but it still doesn't sound like anyone is stepping up to the plate with a King biopic in the near future.
How about this? I'll find the talent while someone else finds the funding, since that's where this will start and end. In fact, give me a free pass to the premiere and I'll organize a fundraiser, too.
Let's get to work.
When searching for the actor to play King, we have to consider several fundamental criteria. First, the person must not be too well known or already overexposed; we have to be able to see them as King and not as themselves. Secondly, they have to look somewhat like King, so as not to be a constant distraction. Lastly, they actually have to be able to act. Can't forget that. So, who could fully inhabit this man?
Casting Call:
(please excuse spacing issues)
Anthony Anderson - Recent credits include Transformers, The Departed, and Hustle & Flow. You laugh, but dude actually has acting chops, and he's not only good for comic relief. I've heard positive words about his roles in TV's "K-Ville" and "The Shield," though I can't speak from personal observations there. He seems like a nice guy, he might be able to pull it off, and he could use a career boost.
Terrence Howard - Best known in recent years for his hot period that included roles in Ray, Crash, and Hustle & Flow (for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nom), Howard is young and promising, despite his questionable choices in recent years. He actually played King's friend Ralph Abernathy in 2001's Boycott, and he seems like someone who would take the role of King seriously.
Ving Rhames - Yeah, it's a stretch to think Marsellus Wallace could translate to Martin Luther King, Jr., but Rhames has just enough gravitas to do real justice to a dramatic role. He seems to always play a sidekick or otherwise diminished character, but some part of me thinks he could ably handle one of King's rousing pulpit speeches. Eh...maybe. Like I said, it's a stretch.
Jeffrey Wright - After a notable debut in 1996's Basquiat, Wright recently reemerged in Broken Flowers, Syriana, and HBO's "Angels in America." He clearly has talent, but you won't see it on display in two horrifyingly terrible recent movies - 2007's The Invasion and 2006's Lady in the Water. Tragic. Oh yeah, he also won an AFI Award for his role in Boycott. His character? Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bernie Mac - That's right, Bernie Mac. All of his wild comedy aside, I saw just enough of his real acting talent in Bad Santa, Pride, and Spike Lee's Get on the Bus to think that he might be able to pull this off. It would take some real patience on the part of the viewer, but you never know how some actors will fit their part. Did you ever think the star of "The Jamie Foxx Show" would win an Oscar?
Mykelti Williamson - You know him as Bubba from Forrest Gump (and as Baby-O from Con Air - was that the same character?), but you've forgotten that he had impressive turns in Three Kings, Ali, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, and most recently, ATL. If this were a pool of some sort, he would be my sleeper pick.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. - I know. Since his Oscar win in 1996, he's either been blacklisted or he has the worst agent in Hollywood. You'll find his post-Jerry Maguire movies in the movie library at Guantanamo: Instinct, Snow Dogs, Rat Race, Boat Trip, Norbit, Daddy Day Camp - I'll stop. He finally landed a chance in American Gangster last year, but it was unfortunately a flashy, shallow role. Call me certifiably insane, but I still think he has potential.
Chiwetel Ejiofor - I consider his breakthrough Dirty Pretty Things, but he's really come on the scene since Kinky Boots in 2005, maybe Inside Man in 2006. Choose what you like, he's a deserving star on the rise. It's crazy that I've included Ejiofor on this list because I've criticized his poor American accent for years. Fortunately, King had a speaking inflection of his own that Ejiofor could probably pull off, and conveniently, he looks exactly like him.
There are others, of course, that I briefly considered: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Cedric the Entertainer, Wesley Snipes, Jamie Foxx, Omar Epps, Donald Faison, Andre Braugher, Eddie Murphy, Laurence Fishburne, Eric La Salle, Larenz Tate, and more, including others that don't look the part (Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker). Despite the popular vote, you can't consider Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, or Morgan Freeman. They wouldn't fit at all, they would never take the role, and Denzel's already been robbed once for Malcolm X.
But even after our casting decisions, how do you tell the story? After all, we're talking about one of the most complex public figures in history. Developing a filmable biography of King is not the easiest task Hollywood has faced. Potential screenwriters won't be considered at this time, but it will certainly be a massive project deserving of special attention.
Finally, what about directors? Not as much science here, but equally as important. I'll just throw out some names - Spike Lee (Malcolm X), Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), James Mangold (Walk the Line), Oliver Stone (Nixon, JFK), Taylor Hackford (Ray), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man), and Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). These are all currently working American directors who have, in my opinion, already proven they can handle a dramatic male character biography. I would also deliberately add African-American directors John Singleton (Boyz 'n the Hood, Rosewood) and Albert and Allen Hughes (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents) to the list, despite the fact that they've done hardly any work of significance in recent years.
So that's it. The hard work is done.
Actually, he did the hard work.
Now it's our turn.
