Robert Redford bought the film rights to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s Watergate book in 1974 for $450,000 and hired William Goldman to turn the sprawling investigation into a workable screenplay. Goldman’s crucial structural decision was to focus almost entirely on the first seven months of the scandal, ending around Richard Nixon’s second inauguration rather than attempting to dramatize the entire Watergate saga. But Redford disliked Goldman’s first draft, and Woodward and Bernstein disliked it as well. Redford then solicited suggestions from the reporters, prompting Bernstein and his girlfriend, writer Nora Ephron, to produce their own competing draft. Goldman later described Redford’s willingness to entertain that version as a “gutless betrayal.”
Preparing the daily feature…
AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Bitter Screenwriting Battle Behind All the President’s Men
All the President’s Men / 1970s
Robert Redford bought the film rights to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s Watergate book in 1974 for $450,000 and hired William Goldman to turn the sprawling investigation into a workable screenplay. Goldman’s crucial structural decision was to focus almost entirely on the first seven months of the scandal, ending around Richard Nixon’s second inauguration rather than attempting to dramatize the entire Watergate saga. But Redford disliked Goldman’s first draft, and Woodward and Bernstein disliked it as well. Redford then solicited suggestions from the reporters, prompting Bernstein and his girlfriend, writer Nora Ephron, to produce their own competing draft. Goldman later described Redford’s willingness to entertain that version as a “gutless betrayal.”
The daily feature is taking an intermission. There’s still an entire archive to explore.