Currently the hottest spot in prestigious television is the Watergate Hotel. At least, that’s what Starz has released almost back-to-back. oil lamp and HBOs White House Plumbers can make you think. Both series are inspired by the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.
In the broad canon of media inspired by Watergate, White House Plumbers closer to comedy dick than dramatic pieces like Don/Nixon or Oliver Stone’s 1995 biography of Nixon. (Actually, Nixon is not at all in this version of the story.) Last summer. oil lampIt was aiming for something similar to these recent movies starring Sean Penn and Julia Roberts. But the portrayal of various figures within the Nixon administration—from attorney John Dean to Attorney General John Mitchell, to his publicly abused wife Martha, and Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman—was messy.
White House Plumbers acts as course correction. More character oriented All the President’s Men-A similar approach to telling the story: It focuses on two men who fail to break in, drastically debunking an attempted theft at the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention. The result is a more unique addition to the retelling of multiple Watergate scandals.
Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux) play the inept, hopeful Nixon employees tasked with supporting Nixon’s election campaign. But former CIA and FBI agents who failed respectively are not the most qualified for the job; White House Plumbers He turns Hunt and Liddy’s absurd thefts into a hilarious T and down to their punishment for breaking in.
Co-creators Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory have a long history of helping set that tone in comedy writing. The duo started working together Late Show with David Letterman In the ’90s, they regularly captured the innate madness of American culture, especially politics. This is their first project since working in the USA. buzz writers’ room where they hone their political satire skills. (And for those wondering: No, the duo didn’t. oil lampand they don’t plan it.)
He reenacted the break-in at the end of the episode aired on Monday night. The Daily Beast’s Obsessed chatted with Huyck and Gregory about making such a scandalous event funny, how they managed to endear the bad guys, and what other political scandal deserves comedic treatment. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
While there’s funny material out there about Watergate—for example 1999 comedy classic dick– most approaches to scandal are more serious. Why did you both decide to go with a funny tone? White House Plumbers?
Peter Huyck: When we set out to do this, our goal was to write it straight and not try to add jokes like we did at the beginning, regardless of the scenes and whatever the characters are doing. Veep.
But Hunt and Liddy were such unbelievable characters that the scenes became hilarious as they wore wigs and planned sex bots to undermine the Democrats. All their big ideas were weird and they were really hilarious characters, especially Liddy. So these scenes all end up being funny, but we write them the way we imagine them to be, and they’re really funny.
Why did you want to focus on Hunt and Liddy in the first place as opposed to other players in Watergate events?
Alex Gregory: They’re the more interesting characters compared to what’s going on in the White House. [The story of what happened to those inside the Nixon administration] it was basically a scandal and a cover-up – it’s not really the newest thing. Whereas the idea of a former CIA agent who took the blame for the Bay of Pigs and an FBI agent kicked out of the FBI for being arrested, [was more interesting].
They are also the most accessible characters in anything. As eccentric as they may be, I think the average person connects with two guys thrown in at each other. They were told to do a job. “I don’t necessarily like or trust this guy, but I really want to impress my bosses. I haven’t had the career I wanted. … This is my only chance to make it.” This is a much more accessible story to the average person than “I am the president’s adviser.”
Definitely. And Hunt and Liddy were also more involved in the frenzied act of break-in than John Dean or John Mitchell.
Huyck: Yes. both [Liddy and Hunt] they have these disastrous past stories and take responsibility for their dirty games. No one should be surprised if it didn’t go well.
how long does it take Chapter 3 actually to demonstrate break-in, but any American who’s watched knows from the start that Hunt and Liddy weren’t the good guys. Were there any difficulties in supporting them as our main characters?
Gregory: We spoke to a director who said, “I’m worried you’re making these guys too sympathetic.” To tell a cautionary tale, you must at least understand and identify the hero, even if they are evil anti-heroes. You must treat them with a certain empathy and understanding, because if you start with them as monsters, you are not invested in their journey.
You want them to succeed, to take the audience on this journey and get the gut punches that Nixon isn’t coming. You really have to ask Nixon to come to the aid, or everything will collapse emotionally.
Huyck: I would also say that although they are obviously clumsy and we all know how the story ends, we wanted to show that there were moments when they were talented and smart and excelled in some elements so you would understand why. given the opportunity.
[That’s why] Chapter 2 is all about the Dita Beard crisis. This could have overthrown the Nixon administration before the 1972 election took place. [Showing that event helps] You get why everyone in the White House thinks these guys are pretty talented. They work in a somewhat unorthodox way, but they get results.
Very unorthodox.
Huyck: The first intrusion was pretty clever. They held a completely fake banquet in a different part of the building so they could be there hours later and then sneak in and gain access to the DNC. It was pretty bright. There were movies playing, they had dinner, they had drinks – everything lined up.
Only DNC employees worked very late that night and [Hunt and his team] actually locked in the banquet hall, the liquor cabinet. They actually had to pee in whiskey bottles. All of this really happened.
But the plan was clever in the beginning and it could work. They were so close to taking it out.
They even got close on the last try – I wish they hadn’t left the tape on the door. They should have used silver tape! Less obvious!
Gregory: many of them [Hunt and Liddy’s] setbacks occurred due to budget cuts. Like the fact that they use [Nixon’s head of security] James McCord, because he was already on the payroll…[they used him] rather than hiring an outside person whose bugs might have worked. [Bernard “Macho” Barker, one of the burglars,] he didn’t want to waste batteries, so he turned off their radios – so they couldn’t warn them that the cops were in the building. This is the fallout when you cheap out on this grand vision.
A big part of the blunder, of course, is Gordon Liddy’s craziness. most depictions of him turn it into a caricature – big mustache, eerily callous. Have you both wanted to avoid parodying? White House Plumbers‘Taking Liddy?
Huyck: I think we did, yes. The interesting thing about Liddy and Hunt is that Hunt is a more talented guy on the surface. But family life was very messy – whereas Gordon Liddy is a completely ridiculous character on the surface, but family life was very strong. He was a great husband. He was very attached to his wife. It doesn’t humanize him or excuse the crazy things he does, but it does allow you to understand him as a human being, so it’s just like, “Here’s that moustached idiot putting his hand on fire all the time.”
Gregory: once you see [Gordon Liddy and his wife Lydia, played by Judy Greer] together, you believe in their dynamics. [But when] you see the children, you [realize] He even acts in front of his family. The only times you see his guard really drop is when Hunt talks about being bullied as a kid and how that prompted him to create this Ubermensch persona.
These are some of our favorite moments on the show, when both men let their guard down against each other. You see how important all this is to them because of the scars they both have.
One we never see enter the story is President Nixon himself, apart from the archive footage. Was this intentional so that someone wouldn’t play Nixon on screen?
Gregory: The joke would be that we would initially have President Richard Nixon. [appearing] like yourself. [We would] use audio cassettes and only film microphones or pant legs in the Oval Office.
But this turned out to be Hunt and Liddy’s story, and from their point of view, they never met him on this trip. He’s an idea and an icon, and so for them it’s more like they were whispered about Nixon — “The President wants you to do this” — and that’s their Nixon experience. He is not human to them.
Huyck: Also, whenever you have someone so iconic and recognizable and have an actor playing them, it’s hard not to feel like it’s a cartoon or someone else. It just takes you away from reality [of the show], According to me. we felt like [if we had] In any scene with an actor playing Richard Nixon, you’ll be checking the authenticity of the show.
Whereas I think even though you know Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux, I hope, if we’ve done our job, you really believe them and the story and embark on his journey.
I agree that screenplaying Nixon can be a distraction. Finally: What do you think could be another interesting political event? White House Plumbers cure – something that as a culture we don’t yet understand the real bullshit?
Gregory: We can’t tell you, because if we tell you, someone else can. oil lamp IT. [Laughs]
Huyck: For me, 40 years from now, the Rudy Giuliani story will be a great miniseries. As a New Yorker, he was respected when he became mayor – he was mayor of America. And then he gives speeches in front of a person to see what happens to him. [sex shop] hair dye is flowing from her face – that’s a great story. We’re pretty close to that, but down the road, it’s a funny story to tell.
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