‘All the President’s Men’ and one crucial Robert Redford condition: “That was my payback”
Robert Redford built a career on being a true rarity in Hollywood: a handsome leading man who was also a great actor, a champion for film’s artistic and cultural importance, and a driving force behind the rise of independent cinema. He was also an honourable man who never forgot when someone gave him a helping hand when he was on the rise, either. For example, in 1976, he was able to repay an esteemed older star who did him a good turn 16 years earlier by standing firm that he would only make one of his defining movies under one crucial condition.
When Redford was waiting to begin production on 1973’s The Way We Were, he became fascinated by a breaking news story that shocked the nation and called into question the highest echelons of power in the country. The story was, of course, the Watergate scandal, which resulted in President Richard Nixon resigning in disgrace on August 9th, 1974. Redford followed the reporting of The Washington Post’s journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein for the whole affair, before subsequently buying the film rights to their non-fiction book All the President’s Men.
Redford hired his Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid screenwriter William Goldman to pen the script, and it was soon set up at Warner Bros, with The Parallax View’s Alan J Pakula directing. Redford signed up to play Woodward and, after initially believing Al Pacino was the man to play Bernstein, realised that Dustin Hoffman was perfect for the role. However, when it came to casting Ben Bradlee, the Post’s legendary managing editor, Redford was at odds with the studio, director, and Bradlee himself.
To Redford, the ideal man for embodying Bradlee’s moral authority and commanding, yet easy presence, was Jason Robards, an actor best known for excelling in the works of playwright Eugene O’Neill on stage. However, at that time, Robards was going through a very public struggle with alcoholism. He had crashed his car into the side of a mountain in 1972 and had extensive reconstructive surgery on his face. While it was never confirmed that alcohol played a part in the collision, it was certainly what most people in Hollywood believed had happened.
Names like Gene Hackman, Christopher Plummer, Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, and Robert Mitchum were bandied about by the studio for Bradlee. At the same time, the man himself saw George C Scott as his perfect cinematic incarnation. However, Redford was insistent it should be Robards, and he had the power to put his foot down with Warner Bros.
“I had a relationship with Jason that went way back many years earlier in 1960,” Redford told the Kunhardt Film Foundation in 2017. “During The Iceman Cometh, which had been done as ‘Circle in the Square’ first in 1956 and then in 1960. Then…Sidney Lumet was going to do a TV version.” This television adaptation of O’Neill’s play brought Robards to a mass American audience like never before, and Redford believed it “was going to elevate Jason’s profile, which he deserved”.
A young Redford co-starred in the production in a small role and admitted, “While we’re doing it, I didn’t have much to do. I had hardly any lines at all.” To his eternal surprise, though, Robards didn’t treat him like a nobody. Instead, “He was very kind to me. Nobody else really was. He just paid me some attention. I never forgot that courtesy.”
This is why, when Redford had amassed enough power to hold sway over casting on a major Hollywood production, he doubled down and insisted Robards should play Bradlee. When Warner Bros outright refused, he simply countered, “Well, then I won’t do it. You got to have Jason”. Eventually, the studio caved in to his demand, and Robards was cast, much to the chagrin of the real Bradlee. In fact, it’s believed the disgruntled newspaperman told the actor, “Just don’t make me look like an asshole”.
Ultimately, though, Redford’s instincts proved correct, and his decision to repay Robards for his kindness led to a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Academy Award win for the resurgent star. Redford smiled, “You saw what happened. That was payback for me. That was a chance for me to pay back a courtesy I was given as a young actor.”
