Nixon
Brief Synopsis
The controversial president struggles to maintain his integrity and sanity in a shifting political landscape.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Oliver Stone
Director
Anthony Hopkins
Joan Allen
Powers Boothe
Ed Harris
James Woods
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Biography
Historical
Period
Political
Release Date
1995
Production Company
David Manley
Distribution Company
Walt Disney Studios Distribution
Location
Washington, DC, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA
Technical Specs
Duration
3h 10m
Synopsis
Although he's one of the most chronicled public figures of the 20th century, Richard Milhous Nixon remains an enigma to many, his decisions, motives and behavior often shrouded in mystery. With the ill-fated 1972 Watergate break-in and its tragic aftermath--culminating in the President's 1974 resignation--as its focus, NIXON examines its subject's complex life, including his difficult youth in Southern California and often troubled relationship with wife Pat. We also see Nixon's incredible political life, during which he held the offices of Congressman at age 33, Senator at 37, and Vice-President at 39, before losing the Presidential election in 1960 and the California gubernatorial race in 1962, making his startling comeback six years later to win two terms as President. With the inevitability of classical tragedy, Nixon's political career finally crumbles beneath the weight of his past, his ambitions, and his blindness to events just outside his often remarkable range of vision.
Director
Oliver Stone
Director
Cast
Anthony Hopkins
Joan Allen
Powers Boothe
Ed Harris
James Woods
Bob Hoskins
David Paymer
J.t. Walsh
Bridgette Wilson-sampras
Annabeth Gish
David Hyde Pierce
John Stockwell
Raissa Danilova
Tony Goldwyn
Wilson Cruz
Alexander Butterfield
Tom Bower
Fima Noveck
Charlie Haugk
George Plimpton
Mikey Stone
Michael Kaufman
Ian Calip
Kamar De Los Reyes
David C. Potter
Lead Man
Robert Beltran
Mary Steenburgen
Tony Plana
Joanna Going
Sean Stone
Bill Bolender
Bai Ling
Ric Young
Larry Hagman
Kevin Dunn
Harry Murphy
Howard Platt
Madeline Kahn
Mike Kennedy
Paul Sorvino
Michael Chiklis
Michelle Krusiec
Sue Schnulle Murphy
Donna Dixon
John Bellucci
Ray Wills
John C. Mcginley
Julie Araskog
Drew Snyder
James Pickens Jr.
Julie Condra Douglas
Robert F Marshall
Peter Carlin
Jon Tenney
Ronald Von Klaussen
Dan Hedaya
Jack Wallace
Pamela Dickerson
Melinda Renna
Marilyn Rockafellow
Edward Herrmann
James Karen
Annette Helde
John Cunningham
Dr. Christian Renna
Richard Fancy
Peter P Starson
David Barry Gray
Victor Rivers
E. G. Marshall
Tony Lobianco
Tom Nicoletti
Boris Sichkin
Mary Rudolph
John Diehl
O'neal Compton
Enrique Castillo
Lenny Vullo
Fyvush Finkel
Saul Rubinek
Mark Steines
Wass Stevens
Zoey Zimmerman
Marley Shelton
Clayton Townsend
John Bedford Lloyd
Joshua Preston
Anthony T Samona
Lead Man
Brian Bedford
Corey Carrier
Chuck Pfeifer
Crew
Kimberly Adams-galligan
Assistant Costume Designer
Michael Aguilar
Visual Effects
Henry Alberti
Set Designer
Mary Anderson
Adr Editor
Fred Arbegast
Art Department
J H Arrufat
Dialogue Editor
David Baldwin
Sound Effects Editor
Sidney R. Baldwin
Photography
Gregg Baxter
Sound Editor
Lisa S Beasley
Extras Agent/Coordinator
Lon Bender
Audio
Brian Berdan
Editor
Lucas Bielan
Camera Assistant
John Blake
Makeup Artist
Lee Blasingame
Camera Assistant
Sashy Bogdanovich
Research Assistant
Merideth Boswell
Set Decorator
Sarah Bowen
Art Department Coordinator
Steve Bowerman
Boom Operator
Mark Bridges
Assistant Costume Designer
Jim Brookshire
Dialogue Editor
Bill Brown
Post-Production Supervisor
Jason Bryant
Art Assistant
Jon Bush
Swing Gang
Alexander Butterfield
Consultant
Dennis Butterworth
Other
Ian Calip
Office Assistant
Budd Carr
Music Producer
Chris Centrella
Key Grip
Jennifer Clark
Accounting Assistant
Christian Clarke
Set Production Assistant
Gary Clause
Props
Mindy Cole
Assistant
William Conner
Other
Joseph Conti
Visual Effects
Virginia Cook-mcgowan
Dialogue Editor
Bryan Cooke
Visual Effects
Cydney Cornell
Hairdresser
Hank Corwin
Editor
Chris David
Rerecording
Peter Davidian
Lighting
Sandy De Crescent
Music Contractor
John Dean
Consultant
Ann Marie Digioia
Office Assistant
Dino Dimuro
Sound Effects Editor
Amy Dunn
Music Supervisor
Rickley W Dunn
Assistant Sound Editor
Lou Economides
Production
Steve Ellsworth
Costumes
David Emmerichs
Steadicam Operator
David Emmerichs
Camera Operator
Victor Ennis
Assistant Sound Editor
John Paul Filo
Archival Footage
Jeff Flach
Location Manager
Carol Flaisher
Location Manager
Christine C Fransen
Production Coordinator
Erica Froker
Camera Assistant
Kevin M Gannon
Props Assistant
Michael R Gannon
Assistant Property Master
Bobby J Garren
Other
Nerses Gezalyan
Foley Artist
Scott Gillis
Key Grip
Nocolas Goddet
Set Production Assistant
Carmine Goglia
Other
Wayne D Goldwyn
Photography
Ann Goulder
Casting Associate
Laura Graham
Adr Editor
Tricia Gray
Costumer
Dori Greenberg
Set Production Assistant
Scott Griffin
Apprentice
Basil Bryant Grillo
Accounting Assistant
Mindy Hall
Makeup Artist
Todd Hall
Other
Dan Halsted
Coproducer
Eric Hamburg
Coproducer
Andrew Harland
Special Thanks To
Gary Hecker
Foley Artist
Karen Higgings
Other
Chris Hogan
Sound Effects
Christer Hokanson
Digital Effects Supervisor
Mike Holowach
Swing Gang
Billy Hopkins
Casting
Deirdre Horgan
Script Supervisor
Richard Hornung
Costume Designer
Michael Hoskinson
Foley Editor
Nicholas Irwin
Accounting Assistant
Pat Jackson
Dialogue Editor
Craig Jaeger
Foley Editor
Chris Jargo
Adr Editor
Jennifer Neysa Jew
Assistant Editor
Robert Kaiser
Color Timer
Marty Kassab-chaney
Video Assist/Playback
Stanley Kastner
Rerecording
Peter J Kelly
Set Designer
Victor Kempster
Production Designer
Dean M King
Best Boy
Eddie Kish
Assistant
Carlin Kmetz
Matte Painter
Roger Knight
On-Set Dresser
Michelle Kurpaska
Costume Supervisor
Mark Lanza
Sound Effects Editor
Albert Leon
Set Production Assistant
Mike Levitre
Art Department
Heidi Levitt
Casting
Chris Loudon
Effects Coordinator
Sean R Maccaul
Other
J. Fred Macdonald
Archival Footage
Nancy Macleod
Sound Effects Editor
David Macmillan
Sound Mixer
Kelly Mahan-jaramillo
Music
David Manley
Production Insurance
Arthur Manson
Advisor
Louis Marquis
Other
Jo Martin
Editor
Paul Massey
Rerecording
Mary Mastro
Hair Stylist
Richard F Mays
Art Director
Hugh Mccallum
Grip
Alan Z Mccurdy
Assistant Editor
Stacey S Mcintosh
Construction Coordinator
William T Mckane
Rigging Gaffer
Michael A Mendez
Best Boy Grip
Ryan T Mennealy
Art Assistant
David L Merrill
Grip
Carla Meyer
Dialect Coach
Monika Mikkelsen
Casting Associate
Deedee Montesanto
Set Costumer
Maggie Murphy
Assistant Director
Shawn Murphy
Music
Sue Schnulle Murphy
Accounting Assistant
Samuel Nalbone
Construction Manager
Marilyn Nave
Production Coordinator
Carol Ness
Extras Agent/Coordinator
Sylvia Nestor
Music Supervisor
John Neufeld
Music Arranger
John Newman
Consultant
Thomas J Norberg
Associate Editor
Sandra Noriega
Production Assistant
Valerie O'brien
Set Costumer
Darrin O'hanlon
Other
Alex Olivares
Avid Editor
Kelly Oxford
Sound Effects Editor
John T Page
Other
Kevin Patterson
Other
Michelle Pazer
Assistant Sound Editor
Amy Pearson
Assistant Production Coordinator
William Petrotta
Property Master
Brian Pierson
Audio
David Pomier
Location Assistant
Darrin C Porter
Electrician
Robert A Preston
Dolly Grip
Meta Puttkammer
Dga Trainee
Brad Rea
Dolly Grip
Dr. Christian Renna
Medic
John Rice
Assistant Sound Editor
Charlene Richards
Adr Mixer
Bruce Richardson
Dialogue Editor
Robert Richardson
Director Of Photography
John D Riley
Set Production Assistant
Stephen J Rivele
Screenplay
Wayne Roberts
Transportation Captain
Scott Andrew Robertson
Assistant Director
Conception Roca
Production Assistant
Paul M Rohrbaugh
Other
Denyse Rossi
Accountant
Sarah Rothenberg
Dialogue Editor
Richard Rutowski
Associate Producer
David Sardi
Assistant Director
Jerry Sargent
Props
Christopher Wells Scheer
Consultant
Robert Scheer
Consultant
Erica Schwartz
Special Thanks To
John P Sears
Consultant
David Sharlein
Grip
Ed Simon
Foley Artist
Tom Skulski
Grip
Fx Smith
Makeup Artist
Gordon Smith
Makeup Artist
Rachel C Smith
Set Production Assistant
Richard Sobin
Assistant Camera Operator
David Stanke
Assistant Sound Editor
Kirk Starbird
Art Department
Wylie Stateman
Sound Editor
Barbara Ann Stein
Other
James Stellar
Assistant Editor
Rob Stevens
Construction
Sunday Stevens
Assistant
F Lee Stone
Special Effects
Oliver Stone
Producer
Oliver Stone
Screenplay
Cecil W Stoughton
Archival Footage
Chris Strong
Lighting Technician
Jeffrey Ray Strong
Electrician
Mark Sullivan
Matte Painter
Bill Summers
Grip
Jesse Tango
Electrician
Gregor Tavenner
Assistant Camera Operator
Kayla Thames
Assistant Location Manager
Annie Tien
Assistant
Clayton Townsend
Producer
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Biography
Historical
Period
Political
Release Date
1995
Production Company
David Manley
Distribution Company
Walt Disney Studios Distribution
Location
Washington, DC, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA
Technical Specs
Duration
3h 10m
Award Nominations
Best Actor
1995
Anthony Hopkins
Best Dramatic Score
1995
Best Original Screenplay
1995
Best Supporting Actress
1995
Joan Allen
Articles
George Plimpton, 1927-2003
George Plimpton, the wry, self-effacing author whose engaging film appearances enlivened many movies over the years, died of a heart attack on September 25 in his Manhattan apartment. He was 76. George Ames Plimpton was born on March 18, 1927 in New York City. The son of a diplomat, he was well connected to high society. A scholarly man of the letters, hip, urbane bohemians knew him for decades as the unpaid editor to the much respected literary quarterly, The Paris Review, which introduced emerging authors such as Gore Vidal and Jack Kerouac. In 1963, the gaunt, unassuming Plimpton documented his time training with the Detroit Lions, and turned the antics into a shrewd, witty piece of sports fulfillment, Paper Lion. The film was adapted for the big screen by Alex March in 1968 with Alan Alda playing the role of Plimpton. That same year, he made his film debut as a reporter in Gordon Douglas' police thriller The Detective (1968) starring Frank Sinatra and followed that up with an amusing cameo as a gunman shot my John Wayne in Howard Hawks' Rio Lobo (1970). A few more cameos came up over the years, but it wasn't until the '90s that he proved he himself a capable performer and found regular film work: an appropriate role as a talk show moderator in Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate's (1991), the president's lawyer in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995); a psychologist in Gus Van Zandt's Good Will Hunting (1997); a clubgoer in Whit Stillman's discursive drama The Last Day's of Disco (1998); and a very comical doctor in Jean- Marie Poire's Just Visiting</I&! gt; (2001). His acceptance as a pop culture icon came to a full head when he appeared in an episode of The Simpsons playing a professor who runs a fixed spelling bee! He is survived by his wife Sara Whitehead Dudley and four children. Michael T. Toole
George Plimpton, 1927-2003
George Plimpton, the wry, self-effacing author whose engaging film appearances enlivened many movies over the years, died of a heart attack on September 25 in his Manhattan apartment. He was 76. George Ames Plimpton was born on March 18, 1927 in New York City. The son of a diplomat, he was well connected to high society. A scholarly man of the letters, hip, urbane bohemians knew him for decades as the unpaid editor to the much respected literary quarterly, The Paris Review, which introduced emerging authors such as Gore Vidal and Jack Kerouac. In 1963, the gaunt, unassuming Plimpton documented his time training with the Detroit Lions, and turned the antics into a shrewd, witty piece of sports fulfillment, Paper Lion. The film was adapted for the big screen by Alex March in 1968 with Alan Alda playing the role of Plimpton. That same year, he made his film debut as a reporter in Gordon Douglas' police thriller The Detective (1968) starring Frank Sinatra and followed that up with an amusing cameo as a gunman shot my John Wayne in Howard Hawks' Rio Lobo (1970). A few more cameos came up over the years, but it wasn't until the '90s that he proved he himself a capable performer and found regular film work: an appropriate role as a talk show moderator in Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate's (1991), the president's lawyer in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995); a psychologist in Gus Van Zandt's Good Will Hunting (1997); a clubgoer in Whit Stillman's discursive drama The Last Day's of Disco (1998); and a very comical doctor in Jean- Marie Poire's Just Visiting</I&! gt; (2001). His acceptance as a pop culture icon came to a full head when he appeared in an episode of The Simpsons playing a professor who runs a fixed spelling bee! He is survived by his wife Sara Whitehead Dudley and four children. Michael T. Toole
Nixon
In a 1995 interview with Salon.com, Stone was asked if he sought to "generate a certain buzz" with his choice of casting Anthony Hopkins, a Welshman with no particular physical resemblance to Nixon, in the title role. "I wouldn't characterize that as a motivation," he responded. "It works. He feels like Nixon. In The Remains of the Day [(1993)], I felt his sense of isolation, his sense of sadness. In Shadowlands [(1993)], there was an emotional fullness to his character. Hopkins is a complete actor. He's not like some of these by-the-numbers TV actors who have their bag of tricks." The actor passed on heavy make-up and obvious mimicry, but captured enough of Nixon's constrictive body language to convey his repression and loneliness.
Stepping off from the point in 1972 when the White House backed "plumbers" were caught burglarizing the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, and concluding with the demise of the Nixon Administration two years later, Stone navigates the film's three hour running time in a non-linear fashion. The director's narrative interweaves the increasing desperation within the Nixon White House in its final days with the formative events in his life. From the strict and demanding upbringing at the hands of his Quaker mother (Mary Steenburgen) to the congressional career marked by the relentless red-baiting that paved his way to the Vice-Presidency to the embittering rivalry with John F. Kennedy, Stone made genuine effort to lend his subject dimension.
The resentment of JFK resonates through the course of the film, and culminates in a scene where Nixon sadly contemplates JFK's White House portrait and declaims "When they see you, they see want they want to be. When they see me, they see who they are." In an interview, Hopkins agreed that "it sums up his whole attitude about himself, Kennedy and the public who never loved him like he needed, but he could never had said such a thing. Not Nixon. If he had been that self-aware, he would not have been so miserable about it. Perception lightens our load."
Hopkins' efforts were complemented by those of Joan Allen, who had been working under film critics' radar for a decade before her performance as long-suffering First Lady Pat Nixon. Delivering a characterization that was surprisingly subtle yet emotionally complex, Allen garnered her first Oscar® nomination. Nixon would receive four Oscar® nominations altogether, with the balance going to Hopkins, John Williams' score, and the screenplay authored by Stone, Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson.
Another of the film's virtues is the large and talented roster of actors assembled to portray the major players in Watergate and the other key events of Nixon's career. The long list includes Powers Boothe (Alexander Haig), Paul Sorvino (Henry Kissinger), E.G. Marshall (John Mitchell), Bob Hoskins (J. Edgar Hoover), James Woods (H.R. Haldeman), J.T. Walsh (John Ehrlichman), Ed Harris (E. Howard Hunt), David Hyde Pierce (John Dean), Edward Herrmann (Nelson Rockefeller) and David Paymer (Ron Ziegler).
Critics of the film mostly leveled their complaints at Stone's scenario where dramatic license trumped historical accuracy, but the director, in a 1997 interview, expressed his own surprise at his film's sympathetic leanings towards its subject. "[A]t the end of the day it was really clear that a lot of the problems of Richard Nixon were really personal," he stated. "He distorted himself, in a sense. Instead of taking grace from power and doing something better with his power, he distorted into a darker side. That's what was interesting about the man."
Producer: Oliver Stone, Clayton Townsend, Andrew G. Vajna, Dan Halsted, Eric Hamburg, Richard Rutowski
Director: Oliver Stone
Screenplay: Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Oliver Stone
Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Film Editing: Brian Berdan, Hank Corwin
Art Direction: Richard F. Mays, Donald Woodruff, Margery Zweizig
Music: John Williams
Cast: Anthony Hopkins (Richard Nixon), Joan Allen (Pat Nixon), Powers Boothe (Alexander Haig), Ed Harris (E. Howard Hunt), Bob Hoskins (J. Edgar Hoover), E.G. Marshall (John Mitchell).
BW& C-192m. Letterboxed.
by Jay S. Steinberg
Nixon
Over the last generation, no American filmmaker has proved less daunted by addressing politically loaded subject matter than Oliver Stone. From the moment in the early '90s when Stone announced his intentions to mount a film biography of the only U.S. President to resign his office, anticipatory protest came from those who thought the project would only serve to demonize Richard M. Nixon. Other voices expressed their reservations that the film wouldn't go far enough in doing so. Ultimately, Stone's Nixon (1995) plays out like epic tragedy, and presents the 37th President as an ambitious but flawed man whose own insecurities not only fueled his rise to the highest seat of power, but lead him to tarnish his legacy.
In a 1995 interview with Salon.com, Stone was asked if he sought to "generate a certain buzz" with his choice of casting Anthony Hopkins, a Welshman with no particular physical resemblance to Nixon, in the title role. "I wouldn't characterize that as a motivation," he responded. "It works. He feels like Nixon. In The Remains of the Day [(1993)], I felt his sense of isolation, his sense of sadness. In Shadowlands [(1993)], there was an emotional fullness to his character. Hopkins is a complete actor. He's not like some of these by-the-numbers TV actors who have their bag of tricks." The actor passed on heavy make-up and obvious mimicry, but captured enough of Nixon's constrictive body language to convey his repression and loneliness.
Stepping off from the point in 1972 when the White House backed "plumbers" were caught burglarizing the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, and concluding with the demise of the Nixon Administration two years later, Stone navigates the film's three hour running time in a non-linear fashion. The director's narrative interweaves the increasing desperation within the Nixon White House in its final days with the formative events in his life. From the strict and demanding upbringing at the hands of his Quaker mother (Mary Steenburgen) to the congressional career marked by the relentless red-baiting that paved his way to the Vice-Presidency to the embittering rivalry with John F. Kennedy, Stone made genuine effort to lend his subject dimension.
The resentment of JFK resonates through the course of the film, and culminates in a scene where Nixon sadly contemplates JFK's White House portrait and declaims "When they see you, they see want they want to be. When they see me, they see who they are." In an interview, Hopkins agreed that "it sums up his whole attitude about himself, Kennedy and the public who never loved him like he needed, but he could never had said such a thing. Not Nixon. If he had been that self-aware, he would not have been so miserable about it. Perception lightens our load."
Hopkins' efforts were complemented by those of Joan Allen, who had been working under film critics' radar for a decade before her performance as long-suffering First Lady Pat Nixon. Delivering a characterization that was surprisingly subtle yet emotionally complex, Allen garnered her first Oscar® nomination. Nixon would receive four Oscar® nominations altogether, with the balance going to Hopkins, John Williams' score, and the screenplay authored by Stone, Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson.
Another of the film's virtues is the large and talented roster of actors assembled to portray the major players in Watergate and the other key events of Nixon's career. The long list includes Powers Boothe (Alexander Haig), Paul Sorvino (Henry Kissinger), E.G. Marshall (John Mitchell), Bob Hoskins (J. Edgar Hoover), James Woods (H.R. Haldeman), J.T. Walsh (John Ehrlichman), Ed Harris (E. Howard Hunt), David Hyde Pierce (John Dean), Edward Herrmann (Nelson Rockefeller) and David Paymer (Ron Ziegler).
Critics of the film mostly leveled their complaints at Stone's scenario where dramatic license trumped historical accuracy, but the director, in a 1997 interview, expressed his own surprise at his film's sympathetic leanings towards its subject. "[A]t the end of the day it was really clear that a lot of the problems of Richard Nixon were really personal," he stated. "He distorted himself, in a sense. Instead of taking grace from power and doing something better with his power, he distorted into a darker side. That's what was interesting about the man."
Producer: Oliver Stone, Clayton Townsend, Andrew G. Vajna, Dan Halsted, Eric Hamburg, Richard Rutowski
Director: Oliver Stone
Screenplay: Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Oliver Stone
Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Film Editing: Brian Berdan, Hank Corwin
Art Direction: Richard F. Mays, Donald Woodruff, Margery Zweizig
Music: John Williams
Cast: Anthony Hopkins (Richard Nixon), Joan Allen (Pat Nixon), Powers Boothe (Alexander Haig), Ed Harris (E. Howard Hunt), Bob Hoskins (J. Edgar Hoover), E.G. Marshall (John Mitchell).
BW& C-192m. Letterboxed.
by Jay S. Steinberg
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Ed Harris was a co-winner, along with Kevin Spacey, of the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 1995 award for Best Supporting Actor. Harris was cited for his performances in "Just Cause" (USA/1995), "Apollo 13" (USA/1995) and "Nixon" (USA/1995).
Winner of the 1995 award for Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen) from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
Winner of the 1995 award for Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen) from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Winner of the 1995 award for Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen) from the National Society of Film Critics.
Winner of the 1995 award for Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen) from the Society of Texas Film Critics.
Winner of the 1995 award for Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen) from the South Florida Critics' Association.
Winner of the 1995 awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen) from the Chicago Film Critics Association.
Expanded Release in United States December 29, 1995
Expanded Release in United States January 5, 1996
Released in United States February 1996
Released in United States on Video July 9, 1996
Released in United States Winter December 20, 1995
Wide Release in United States December 20, 1995
Shown at Berlin International Film Festival (out of competition) February 15-26, 1996.
Began shooting May 1, 1995.
Completed shooting July 21, 1995.
Expanded Release in United States January 5, 1996
Released in United States February 1996 (Shown at Berlin International Film Festival (out of competition) February 15-26, 1996.)
Released in United States on Video July 9, 1996
Released in United States Winter December 20, 1995
Wide Release in United States December 20, 1995
Expanded Release in United States December 29, 1995
