Rewatchables Reference

• Bernstein trying to steal the story from Woodward – sets up their entire relationship in 30 seconds through newspaper jargon. "I don't mind what you did. I mind the way you did it."
• Redford on the phone with Dahlberg and McGregor – a 6-minute scene done in one take with a slow zoom. The fuckup at the end where he calls the wrong guy by the wrong name was a real mistake they kept in.
• Robards buying in for the first time – the red pen editing scene where he's got his feet up in worn loafers, and you learn everything about the journalism business.
• The Jane Alexander coffee scene – Hoffman charming his way into her house, smoking, taking notes on napkins.
• The last Deep Throat meeting in the garage.
• The ending at Bradlee's house – "Nothing's riding on this except the First Amendment, the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters. But if you guys fuck up again, I'm going to get mad."

• Old school newspaper journalism – the production design, the typewriters, the phones ringing, the legal pads, the chatter. The movie won for sound mixing because of how well it captured the newsroom atmosphere.
• The overwhelming paranoia and suspicion about politics – could apply to virtually every administration of the last 40 years.
• The value of reporting and building from the outer edges in – not trusting initial stories, digging under every rock, being patient, getting it right.
• Seventies Washington as a character in the movie – Gordon Willis's cinematography with the Washington Monument and the shadows gives DC a powerful filmic quality.

• The diversity of the newsroom – all white dudes in the editorial meetings, but that's what the 70s were like.
• The smoking – Bernstein smokes everywhere (elevators, cars). They make it a bit in the movie.

• Redford first selected Al Pacino, then decided Dustin Hoffman was a better fit.
• Jeff Bridges could have been Woodward – right age, had done Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, would have been perfect.
• Bridges and Dreyfuss would have made an interesting pairing, though the movie wouldn't be as good without two of the best actors of the last 50 years.
• Katharine Graham was cast and then cut from the movie entirely.
• Deep Throat candidates included every white actor who was 48: Anthony Quinn, Gene Hackman, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Telly Savalas.

• Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat – three scenes, never fully see his face, completely iconic. Woodward pushed for Holbrook, and as it turns out, he looked a lot like the real Deep Throat, Mark Felt.
• Jason Robards – in about eight scenes with maybe 11 minutes of screen time, might be eligible for heat check AND winning the movie.
• Robert Walden as Donald Segretti – immediately turning on the tears, the 1970s version of James O'Keefe.
• Ned Beatty – on screen for about a minute but hilarious and brings bizarre levity.
• Stephen Collins as Hugh Sloan – really important to the movie.

• Martin Balsam – in Psycho, 12 Angry Men, and a million other things, but only people like the hosts would know his name. The ultimate That Guy.
• Jack Warden and Lindsay Crouse are also strong nominees.

• Goldman told the story of Bernstein and Nora Ephron writing a competing script behind his back that included factual inaccuracies and blew up the Bernstein character. Woodward later said involvement in that was one of the six worst things he's ever done.
• Redford did revisionist history in a 2013 documentary claiming he and Pakula rewrote the Goldman script in a hotel room – all debunked by Goldman's annotated screenplays with timestamps.
• Redford and Hoffman settled on a billing compromise previously used by John Wayne and James Stewart in Liberty Valance – Redford got top billing in marketing, Hoffman got the top spot in the film itself.
• Goldman did not attend the 1977 Oscars because he was watching the Knicks.
• Jason Robards came to set on non-shooting days to sit in Bradlee's office. Redford and Hoffman memorized each other's lines for natural dialogue flow.
• Robert Redford is left-handed and wears his watch on his right hand, but every close-up shows him doing things right-handed.

• Robert Redford – yes. Coming off the incredible 70s run ('Jeremiah Johnson', The Candidate, The Way We Were, 'The Sting', The Great Gatsby, Three Days of the Condor), this movie established him as a producer. His last truly iconic movie.
• Dustin Hoffman – no. 'Kramer vs. Kramer' and Tootsie are stronger candidates.
• Jason Robards – won back-to-back Supporting Actor Oscars (this and Julia). King of the Iceman Cometh on Broadway.
• Alan Pakula – yes. Klute, The Parallax View, and this is an incredible run. The margins between him and Coppola or Scorsese are razor thin.
• William Goldman – strong case. This plus 'Marathon Man', biggest stars in Hollywood, making shitloads of money, winning an Oscar.
• Watergate – this might have been Watergate's Apex Mountain.

• The FBI agent that Hoffman's trying to get information from – hot-headed for no reason, not an impressive acting performance.
• Jack Warden – operating at a vocal frequency different from everything else in the movie. Everyone's whispering and he's yelling. Not bad, just in a different movie.

Steve Buscemi would have been unbelievable as Donald Segretti.

• The count to ten scene – complicated instructions and the guy thinks the complete opposite. Never sat right.
• The Florida office scene – the only completely made-up scene in the movie, where Bernstein tricks a secretary to sneak into an office. Doesn't fit the rest of the film's tone.
• The New York Times was way more involved in the Watergate coverage than the movie lets on – the film kind of denies their contributions.

• Is life more fun if we never found out who Deep Throat was? All three hosts say yes. It was almost too easy once it was revealed to be Mark Felt.
• Did the Watergate dirty tricks campaign lay the blueprint for modern political sabotage and Russian interference?

Jason Robards – in a movie with two of the biggest stars of the last 50 years, he feels like the biggest star. Under 15 minutes of total screen time, one of the all-time great performances. His portrayal actually made the real Ben Bradlee a bigger deal.