Willa Fitzgerald Starrer ‘18 ½’ Leans into the Absurdity of Watergate
variety.comMarta Balaga “Bernard and Huey” helmer and co-founder of Slamdance Film Festival Dan Mirvish, now behind “18 ½,” knew that making a movie about Watergate would still be “resonant and relevant,” he says.
Not just in the U.S., but all over the world.Focusing on the infamous “18½-minute gap” from a taped conversation between Nixon and his chief of staff H.R.
Haldeman after the Watergate break-in, allegedly erased by Nixon’s secretary by mistake, a Bugeater Films and Kyyba Films production – starring Willa Fitzgerald and John Magaro – will open theatrically on May 24 in Los Angeles, New York and Omaha, later expanding to other cities. “[On ‘Bernard and Huey’] our last day of shooting was on the day of the 2016 presidential election.
I had a feeling that the word ‘impeachment’ or the echoes of Watergate and Nixon would come back to haunt us,” Mirvish tells Variety.“When we showed the film at the São Paulo International Film Festival, everyone went: ‘This really reminds us of Bolsonaro!’ In England: ‘This is just like Boris Johnson and the scandal he is going through!’ People read different things into it, but this case proves that politicians face consequences.
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