Robert Redford Interview: Behind the Scenes of All the Presidents Men

Robert Redford discusses how Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein being polar opposites having to work together is what initially interested him about the Watergate scandal and how that led him to Ben Bradlee. Redford discusses making All The President’s Men, its documentary-like quality, and how it was a chance to do a film about journalism, and not Richard Nixon. He explores the tension that exists between the press, the entertainment industry, and politics, and the value of knowing “what’s the story.”

Robert Redford is an actor and director who was born in Santa Monica, California on August 18, 1936. Redford was a gifted athlete that received a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado, but quickly left school. He went to Europe to fulfill his ambition to be a painter and spent 13 months painting and studying in Paris. He returned to the U.S. and enrolled as an art student in New York. After time at the Pratt Institute of Art, he was taught acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. By the end of 1960 he was on Broadway in a series of plays including Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park. He has starred in classic films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Candidate (1972), The Way We Were (1973), The Sting (1973), All the President’s Men (1976), and The Natural (1984). He has found success in producing and directing, winning an Oscar for Ordinary People (1980) and receiving both directing and best picture nods for Quiz Show (1994). In 1978 Redford also helped start the Sundance Film Festival, which has grown into one of the movie industry's most prestigious events. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his contributions to the medium in 2001 with an honorary award for serving as an "inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere." In 2016, Redford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

From the HBO / Kunhardt Film Foundation (KFF) Documentary “The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee,” about one of America's most influential and celebrated newspaper editors, who found himself at the center of many of the 20th Century's most seismic storms, including: World War II, John F. Kennedy, Watergate and the fall of Richard Nixon.

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Robert Redford, Actor, Director
Interviewed By: John Maggio
Interview Date: February 17, 2017

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:07 The press, the entertainment industry, and politics
00:24 Watergate and the story behind the story
02:17 Ben Bradlee’s job was a balancing act
04:18 Getting Jason Robards to play Ben Bradlee
05:43 The similarities between Jason Robards and Ben Bradlee
07:26 The story is what counts
08:37 Politics and the press
09:11 Pyrrhic victories and politics
11:53 Keeping the president out of All the President’s Men
12:33 Winning was important to President Nixon
13:11 A cynicism about journalism
14:32 When journalism was about the truth
16:08 Promoting The Candidate
19:13 The legacy of Watergate
19:39 The spotlight on Washington
20:16 Respect for Ben and his quest for the truth

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