Frost\Nixon Page #3

But I don't. I just hear a man doing it

because it would create headlines

or give him a place at the top table.

And that is what makes me nervous.

And you do nervous so beautifully, John.

"Hello, good evening and welcome."

I don't actually say that.

Hello, Mr. Frost.

Champagne?

No, thank you.

Another glass, sir?

You don't like champagne?

Not on airplanes.

Yes, it dehydrates one terribly.

The trick is to have a glass

of water on the go, too.

Like the Viennese serve coffee.

Well, I've never been to Vienna.

Oh. Well, you'd like it.

It's like Paris without the French.

What's your name?

Caroline.

David.

Yes, I know. David Frost.

"Hello and good evening and welcome."

You know, I heard an interview

with you recently on the radio.

You were giving it from the

back of your Rolls-Royce.

Bentley.

On the phone.

They said that you were a person

who defined the age we live in.

Really? Mmm.

You and Vidal Sassoon.

But what made you

exceptional, they said,

was that you were a person

who had achieved great fame

without possessing any

discernible quality.

How kind. Mmm-hmm.

And that you fly around a great deal.

Well, that's true.

Why?

I like to keep busy.

Why?

I find it more interesting

than keeping still.

You know, you have very sad eyes.

Do I? Mmm.

Has anyone told you that before?

No.

Are you a sad person?

Let's talk about you a little bit.

Of course, you feel more

comfortable asking questions.

How right you are!

This is your captain speaking.

You may have noticed we've begun

our final descent into Los Angeles.

If you could please return to your

seats and fasten your seat belts,

we'll be landing very

shortly. Thank you.

So how about you? Where are you going?

To meet Richard Nixon.

Really?

You know, they say he has

the most enormous head,

but the sexiest voice.

Where is he now?

In some dark underground

cave licking his wounds?

Actually, no. In his

rather smart beachside villa

in California.

Really? Richard Nixon

in a beachside villa?

How incongruous.

You can come if you'd like.

To meet Nixon?

Why not?

Are you sure?

You know, I would love that.

Cabin crew, please prepare for arrival.

Well, I'll get my office to call

you first thing in the morning

and send a car with a phone.

Oh.

He did, too. Money no object.

Everything glittered and was golden.

Well, on the outside.

Of course, what I didn't

know was that in the meantime,

he'd gone to all the major networks

to try and get interest

in the interviews.

I'm sorry, David, but we have a policy

of not paying for a news interview.

Look, we love your

work as an entertainer.

That Guinness show?

Love it. You're a funny guy.

But an interview like this?

You're asking us to pay

a British talk show host

to interview an American president

with absolutely no editorial

controls whatsoever in return?

Well, you can't say it's

not a fresh approach.

I know you're very busy.

I'm not gonna keep you from it.

Thank you for coming in.

I'm gonna have to get back to you.

Okay, thank you so much for your time.

David, good luck.

He never let on to anyone at the time,

not even me. You know,

that would have meant...

Thanks.

... admitting failure, and

David doesn't do failure.

There you are.

See, you don't have

to do a thing yourself.

Well.

You found it okay.

Yes, thank you.

Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Frost.

And you, sir.

May I present Caroline Cushing?

Miss Cushing.

Hello. Your house is very beautiful.

Really. Very romantic.

Well, thank you.

And my producer, John Birt.

Nice to meet you. How do you do?

This is Mr. Lazar, and

this is Jack Brennan.

Now, Miss Cushing, would

you like to take a tour,

you know, maybe stretch your

legs after your long journey?

Yes, please. I'd love that. Thank you.

Come on in. This is my office.

Now, this is where Brezhnev

and I had our summit.

Yeah. Brezhnev was there, and

Gromyko there, Dobrynin there.

We talked for nine hours straight.

After the meeting, as

a souvenir of the visit,

I remember that we had

a Lincoln specially made.

Dark blue, cherry wood, leather.

Well, we got inside

for the photographers,

when the next thing you

know, he steps on the gas.

Now, the first rule of political life is

you never let a president get

behind the wheel of a car, ever.

I mean, we're not used to doing anything

for ourselves, let alone drive.

And the Chairman, Jesus,

the way he put his foot down,

my guess is the last thing he drove was

a tractor on some Ukrainian potato farm.

He crashed into curbs.

He went over speed bumps.

He went twice around my whole estate.

Finally, we ended up at some

remote point on the coast,

out there overlooking the sea.

He turns off the gas,

and he talks for two hours

about his favorite subject, steel mills.

He said, "Mr. President,

most politicians

"have tragedy in their early lives."

Well, I told him that I lost

two brothers to tuberculosis.

And he watched his father die from

the cancer he caught in the steelworks.

He was a sad man and a noble adversary.

I wouldn't want to be a Russian leader.

They never know when

they're being taped.

Okay, I guess that's it then, huh?

Until March. I look forward to it.

Well, thank you, Mr. President. So do I.

You know, it's a funny thing that

I've never been challenged

to a duel before.

I guess that's what this is.

Yeah, well, not really.

Of course it is.

And I like that.

No holds barred, eh? No holds barred.

Mr. Frost, there's still

the small matter of the...

Of course.

I do beg your pardon.

Right. $200,000.

I do hope that isn't coming

out of your own pocket.

Well, believe me, sir, I wish

my pockets were that deep.

Made out in the name of?

Irving Paul Lazar.

Richard M. Nixon.

Here you go.

Okay, smile.

There. Now you can put that

in your apartment in New York,

and all your liberal friends

can use it as a dartboard.

Well, actually, I'm living

in Monte Carlo at the moment.

Really?

Yes. Goodbye, Mr. President.

Hey. Take my advice.

You should marry that woman.

Yes. Lovely, isn't she?

More important than that,

she comes from Monaco.

They pay no taxes there.

Bye-bye. Goodbye.

I bet you it did.

What?

Come out of his own pocket.

You know, he couldn't

look me in the eye.

Well, I hear the networks aren't biting.

Without the networks, the ad

agencies don't want to know.

So if you ask me, there's a good chance

this whole thing may never happen.

Really? So that meeting we just

had might have cost him $200,000?

Correct.

Had I known that, I would

have offered him a cup of tea.

Say, did you notice his shoes?

No.

Italian. No laces. What do you think?

My people tried to get me

to wear a pair like that.

I think a man's shoes

should have laces, sir.

You do?

Yeah. Personally, I find those

Italian shoes very effeminate.

Yes, quite right.

I'm sorry, David, but it's a no.

Try to look at it

from our point of view.

Why would an American

network hire a total outsider,

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