By Steven Zeitchik
God must work for Universal. Not only is “Frost/Nixon” generating good reviews and some off-the-culture-page coverage because of a minor controversy over the historicity of the interviews as documented in the picture, but the movie gets a sideways Christmas present with the passing of Mark Felt.
Felt’s death is very sad — he was, after all, a living link to and in fact the very reason for the greatest journalism investigation in American history, and his actions changed the course of the country (not to mention gave us one of the great unseen characters in American cinema via “All the President’s Men”). But he also lived a full life in his ninety-five years, and his death will be an occasion to remember not only his achievement but the period for which he’s famous — and make “Frost/Nixon,” which coming into the season looked almost quaint in its recounting of the revealed truths of the post-Watergate era, feel fresh and relevant again.
It’s worth noting that Universal happens to have a project in development with Playtone on Felt’s life. We’ve no idea how alive it is, but you can imagine, if “Frost/Nixon” takes off, that there’s suddenly juice to it. In the meantime, R.I.P. to a man who was a credit to everything we ink- (and blog-) stained wretches do every day.
