Of all the U.S. Presidents, Richard Nixon has been the most Shakespearean in his capacity to self-destruct, then recover, reinvent, and resurface again. Nixon’s rise throughout his political life was curiously associated to the death of others who would have stood in his path. First, two of his brothers who would have most likely exceeded his ability and political ambitions died; one to influenza, and one to tuberculosis. After losing the presidential election to John F. Kennedy in 1960, his career was in fatal mode, only revived due to the John F. Kennedy (JFK) assassination. During the 1968 primary season, Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy (RFK), just after winning the Democratic California primary– Nixon’s home state– was also killed, paving the way for a Nixon victory against considerably weaker candidate Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey.

Nixon is back this time courtesy of movie director Ron Howard in a screen adaptation of Peter Morgan’s theatrical “Frost/Nixon” which opens Friday December 5th, 2008. The film revisits the televised interviews of May 1977 between British media star David Frost and the former president, whose approval had fallen to an all-time low after the Watergate scandal and his subsequent resignation in 1974.

The original interviews presented a risk for both parties as Frost reportedly self-funded the project, and Nixon, who was seeking redemption could have been humiliated even further in the public’s eye. At the time, the consensus was that Nixon, the disgraced fallen leader, fell no further, despite some outrageous pronouncements that included “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal” and his on camera stammers and strange digressions. The production was a media success for Frost and did well on ratings nationwide.

With: Frank Langella (Richard Nixon), Michael Sheen (Sir David Frost), Kevin Bacon (Jack Brennan), Rebecca Hall (Caroline Cushing), Toby Jones (Swifty Lazar), Matthew MacFadyen (John Birt), Oliver Platt (Bob Zelnick) and Sam Rockwell (James Reston Jr).