Director/actor Robert Redford has always had a penchant for historical analysis surrounding game-changing events in his films, but while perhaps 2010's “The Conspirator” eluded him with its misguided casting and weak dialogue, a new documentary project surrounding the Watergate scandal appears to be right up his alley.
The New York Times have detailed Redford's plans to make “All The President's Men Revisited,” a two-hour documentary about the Watergate scandal and its consequences on media and politics since. Redford sat with Bob Woodward, whom he played in “All The President's Men,” and Woodward discussed his time at the Washington Post with his writing partner Carl Bernstein and editor Ben Bradlee, two men also keen to share their thoughts about how the Nixon administration changed the way politics were perceived.
The Times article is a great read, but most importantly it buries the idea that the documentary will be a simple rehashing of facts that the 1976 Alan J. Pakula film were based on. “What's the legacy of Watergate? What do we understand?" Woodward asked, detailing many of the paths the film could explore. “What are some of the lessons? It's been a long time.”
Woodward is reported to have led Redford and his team to new information about the scandal, such as the 2005 confession of Mark Felt as the Deep Throat source, a major coup that reveals a new facet to past details that will no doubt be scrutinized. Also, while the style of the documentary has not been revealed, interviews with leading media and political professionals have been planned, so a “Senna”-esque narrative of solely archival footage appears to be out. Whatever the aesthetic though, Redford clearly seems humble and passionate about his role in expounding upon a defining chapter in American history, and so the end result should reflect that into a must-see event.
Redford's Sundance Productions, which is just starting a strategy for film and television projects, will team up with the Discovery Channel to ready “All the President's Men Revisited” for a 2013 release.
