Word: bernsteins
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Watergate case slowly built, Redford noted two particularly interesting reporters among those plugging away at the story. When he read brief biographies of Woodward and Bernstein he was fascinated by the odd-couple quality of their pairing?a Wasp and a Jew, one cool and controlled, the other more voluble and volatile. Characteristically?he is a man much more interested in people than in ideas?"that was the first time I saw the potential film." He adds: "I remember thinking, 'This is very interesting, a study in opposing characters and how they work together.' I'm really fascinated...
...Post had claimed that H.R. Haldeman had been named in grand jury testimony as one of the controllers of the Watergate dirty-tricks fund. He had not been named before the grand jury, thus allowing the White House to cast doubt on the accuracy of everything Woodward and Bernstein had reported. "I wanted to see them when they had bottomed out," says Redford. "People who take wild shots and miss interest...
...fact that Woodward and Bernstein interested him most when they looked most as if they were going to be losers is an expression of Redford's truest?or at least oldest?self. Approaching 40, he may currently be the world's ranking movie star. He, his wife Lola and their three children jet back and forth between their Fifth Avenue apartment and their retreat outside Provo, Utah, near the ski resort he owns and where he revels in his role as conservationist and spokesman for various good causes...
...time, a quick takeoff artist, bombing the interstates and bumming his way around Europe, vaguely thinking of becoming an artist. Some of his friends were convinced that he would never find himself, would wind up a loser, and Redford remains fascinated by the type. Since Woodward and Bernstein could possibly be seen as anti-Establishment goads, that also probably drew him to them. In short, he may have become a Goliath in his trade, but his heart belongs to the Davids...
Redford bought the movie rights for $450,000. He began work by affixing himself to the Post city room, particularly to Woodward and Bernstein. "I fell in love with the Post," he says. "I felt these people really did lead a different life. I saw all the leads that Bob and Carl couldn't go with. It was such fat, juicy stuff." He won the confidence of Bradlee and most of the paper's other executives, with the exception of Publisher Katharine Graham, who remained wary of the whole project...