Such a great film and a superb performance, one completely stripped at any attempt at mimicry. Hopkins doesn’t look or really even sound like Nixon and yet he’s still more Nixon than any other actor who’s ever played Nixon.
Just realized Anthony Hopkin’s Nixon is much more Rudy Giuliani (watch the laugh right after he talks about bombing whoever he wants…) than Richard Nixon:
youtu.be/s62PeTxELL4?...
Honestly I'm trying to think of not at least interesting rendition of Nixon. He's such a compelling character. Positively Shakespearean. Iago meets Lear with some sort of grizzled gone bad Hamlet in the mix.
I have such a clear memory of seeing it the first time, in the theater, becoming completely immersed in his performance, and being legitimately shocked three hours later when the archival footage showed up. I'd forgotten what he REALLY looked like.
