The Post is a 2017 American historical political thriller film[8][9] about The Washington Post and the publication of the Pentagon Papers. It was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, and written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer. It stars Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post, and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee, the longtime executive editor of The Washington Post, with Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, Alison Brie, and Matthew Rhys in supporting roles.
The Post | |
---|---|
Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
Written by | |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Janusz Kamiński |
Edited by |
|
Music by | John Williams |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 116 minutes[5] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $50 million[6] |
Box office | $179.8 million[7] |
Set in 1971, The Post depicts the true story of attempts by journalists at The Washington Post to publish the infamous Pentagon Papers, a set of classified documents regarding the 20-year involvement of the United States government in the Vietnam War and earlier in French Indochina back to the 1940s.
Principal photography began in New York City in May 2017 and wrapped in July 2017. The film premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on December 14, 2017, and went into limited release in the United States on December 22, 2017. It entered wide release on January 12, 2018, and grossed $179 million worldwide.
The film received positive reviews; critics praised the performances (particularly Streep, Hanks, and Odenkirk) and the film's references and allusions to the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.[10][11][12] The Post was chosen by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2017 and was named as one of the top 10 films of the year by Time magazine and the American Film Institute.[13][14][15] The Post was nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress (for Streep) at the 90th Academy Awards, and received six nominations at the 75th Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress – Drama (for Streep), Best Actor – Drama (for Hanks), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.[16]
In 1966, during the Vietnam War, U.S. State Department military analyst Daniel Ellsberg accompanies American troops in combat, documenting military progress for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. On the flight home, McNamara tells Ellsberg and William B. Macomber the war is hopeless. To the congregated media, however, he says he believes in the war effort. Overhearing this abrupt turnabout, Ellsberg becomes disillusioned. Years later, as a civilian military contractor/consultant working for the RAND Corporation (a military/defense "think tank"), Ellsberg copies thousands of pages of classified reports documenting the country's decades-long involvement in Vietnam, starting in the Truman administration. He then leaks them to The New York Times, via reporter Neil Sheehan.
In 1971, Katharine Graham has been the owner and publisher of The Washington Post for the past eight years, following the suicide of its former publisher, her husband Phil Graham, and the death of her father, Eugene Meyer, the previous owner. She nervously prepares the Post's stock market launch, to financially stabilize the paper. Graham lacks journalistic experience and is frequently overruled by her male, domineering financial advisers, and editors, including editor-in-chief (executive editor) Ben Bradlee and board member Arthur Parsons.
McNamara, a long-time friend of hers, advises Graham that an unflattering story featuring him will be published in The New York Times, another example of the Times' ability to get preemptive scoops while the Post languishes behind. The story is an exposé of the American government's long-running deception about America's position in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, a federal district court injunction halts the Times from publishing further articles on the subject.
Post assistant editor Ben Bagdikian tracks down Ellsberg, a former colleague, as the source for the leak. He provides him copies of the same material given previously to the Times. Post reporters pore over mounds of pages, searching for additional headlines. Their attorneys advise against publishing the material, lest the Nixon administration file criminal charges. Graham confers with McNamara, Bradlee, and trusted Post chairman Fritz Beebe, as she agonizes about publishing it.
Bradlee tells Graham's politician friends (including John F. Kennedy, as shown in the top-secret documents) abused their friendships by lying to them; her friendship with McNamara must not factor in on the decision whether to publish. The situation intensifies when the lawyers confirm Bagdikian’s source is the same as the Times, possibly putting Graham in contempt of court and potentially destroying the newspaper and her family's ownership and legacy. Alternately, if the legal challenges are overcome in court, the Post could emerge as a significant journalistic institution and increase its reputation. Graham gives the go-ahead.
The Post and Times jointly appear before the Supreme Court to plead their First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, in solidarity with the once isolated Post and Times, other major newspapers start publishing about the secret war study. On June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court's justices, in the case of New York Times Co. v. United States, ruled 6–3 in the two newspapers' favor, vindicating Graham's decision to print. Shortly after, President Richard Nixon demands that the Post be barred from the White House.
The film ends with a sequence showing the discovery of the Watergate burglary by security guard Frank Wills, which was further exposed by the Post and ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation.
In October 2016, Amy Pascal won a bid for the rights to the screenplay The Post, written by Liz Hannah.[17] In February 2017, Steven Spielberg had halted pre-production on The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara with The Weinstein Company after a casting setback, and consequently opened his schedule to other potential films to direct.[6] The following month, it was announced that Spielberg was in negotiations to direct and produce the film, with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in talks for the roles of Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee, respectively.[18] The Post is the first time that Spielberg, Streep, and Hanks had all worked together on a film.[19][20]
Spielberg read the screenplay and decided to direct the film as soon as possible, saying that "when I read the first draft of the script, this wasn't something that could wait three years or two years — this was a story I felt we needed to tell today."[21] Spielberg worked on The Post while post-production work continued on the visual-effects-heavy Ready Player One, a situation familiar to him from concurrently producing, in the early 1990s, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List.[22] Josh Singer was hired to re-write the screenplay ten weeks before filming.[23]
As filming commenced, a number of New York Times figures who were associated with the Pentagon Papers case—among them James Greenfield, James Goodale, Allan M. Siegal, and Max Frankel—objected to the film's production due to the script's lack of emphasis on the Times' role in breaking the story.[24] Goodale, who was at the time the Times's in-house counsel, later called the film "a good movie but bad history."[25]
The film began principal photography in New York on May 30, 2017.[26] On June 6, 2017, it was announced that the project, retitled The Papers, would also star Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford, and Zach Woods.[27] On August 25, 2017, the film's title reverted to The Post.[28] Spielberg finished the final cut of the film on November 6, 2017, with the final sound mix also completed along with the musical score a week later, on November 13.[29]
Writing for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis indicated some high points in the costume design used in the film stating, "The costume designer Ann Roth subtly brightens Katharine, taking her from leaden gray to free-flowing gold."[30]
When Steven first approached me about [The Post], we talked about Kay Graham and Ben Bradlee and what opportunities the film might present for me. When I've thought about it, I've never been in a newsroom – you know, with the clattering of a thousand typewriters in those days... Now no one's using them, it's all silent. But it must have been quite a noisy environment, really – everyone running back and forth. So I thought, "Well, how are you gonna get any music in a newsroom?"
The score for the film was written by John Williams; it is his 28th collaboration with Spielberg.[31] The music is a combination of traditional orchestral instrumentation and what Williams has called "very light, computerised electronic effects."[32] Williams was originally attached to write the music for Spielberg's Ready Player One, but, because both films had similar post-production schedules, Williams chose to work on The Post, while Alan Silvestri composed for Ready Player One.[32] Spielberg has said that The Post was a rare instance in which he went to the recording sessions "having not heard a note" in advance.[33]
Recording began on October 30, 2017, in Los Angeles.[34] The soundtrack was released digitally by Sony Classical Records on December 22, 2017, and in physical form on January 12, 2018.[35]
The Post premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on December 14, 2017.[10] It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 22, 2017, and a wide release on January 12, 2018.[36] The film is distributed internationally through Amblin Partners' distribution agreements with Universal Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, and Entertainment One.[37] The film was released by Reliance in India.[38] Tom Hanks said he would not be interested in appearing at a potential White House screening for President Donald Trump.[39]
The first official image from The Post was released on October 31, 2017.[40] The trailer for The Post premiered exclusively on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, on November 7, 2017,[41] and the film's poster, designed by BLT Communications, was released the next day.[42][43] The first TV spot, titled "Uncover the Truth", was released on November 21, 2017.[44][45]
The Post was released on Digital HD on April 3 and on Blu-ray/DVD on April 17, 2018, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in North America and in the United Kingdom and Australia via Entertainment One.
The Post grossed $81.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $97.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $179.8 million, against a production budget of $50 million.[7]
During The Post's limited opening weekend, December 22 to 24, it grossed $526,011 (and a total of $762,057 over the four-day Christmas weekend) from nine theaters. The following weekend, the film grossed $561,080 for a per-theater average of $62,342, one of the highest of 2017.[46] The film had its wide release alongside the openings of The Commuter, Paddington 2 and Proud Mary, and was projected to gross around $20 million from 2,819 theaters over the weekend.[47] It made $5.9 million on its first day and $18.6 million over the weekend (and a four-day MLK weekend total of $23.4 million), finishing second at the box office behind holdover Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.[48] 66% of its opening weekend audience was over the age of 35.[49] It dropped 37% the following weekend to $12.2 million, finishing 4th behind Jumanji and newcomers 12 Strong and Den of Thieves.[50] It dropped to 5th in its third week of wide release, grossing $8.9 million.[51]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 399 reviews, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Post's period setting belies its bitingly timely themes, brought compellingly to life by director Steven Spielberg and an outstanding ensemble cast."[52] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[53] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale,[48][54] while PostTrak reported 63% of audience members gave the film a "definite recommend".[49]
Alonso Duralde of TheWrap praised the acting and Spielberg's direction, though he noted the script was too on-the-nose at times, saying, "The Post passes the trickiest tests of a historical drama: it makes us understand that decisions validated by the lens of history were difficult ones to make in the moment, and it generates suspense over how all the pieces fell into place to make those decisions come to fruition."[55] David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film an A− and wrote: "Nobody needs to be reminded that history tends to go in circles, but The Post is so vital because it captures the ecstasy of trying to break the chain and bend things towards justice; defending the fundamental tenets of the Constitution hasn't been this much fun since Hamilton."[56]
Chris Nashawaty, writing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the film a positive review, but also compared it with previous journalism films such as All the President's Men stating, "Spielberg makes these crucial days in American history easy to follow. But if you look at The Post next to something like All the President's Men, you see the difference between having a story passively explained to you and actively helping to untangle it. That's a small quibble with an urgent and impeccably acted film. But it's also the difference between a very good movie and a great one."[57]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times awarded the film an NYT Critic's Pick with a strong acknowledgment of Spielberg as director saying, "Mostly, (the Post decision to publish) went down fast, a pace that Mr. Spielberg conveys with accelerated rhythms, flying feet, racing cameras and an enjoyably loose approach to the material. With his virtuosic, veteran crew, Mr. Spielberg paints the scene vividly and with daubs of beauty; most notably, he creates distinct visual realms for the story's two main overlapping, at times colliding, worlds. Katharine reigns over one; at first she's all but entombed in her darkly lighted, wood-paneled empire. Ben rules the other, overseeing the talking and typing warriors of the glaring, noisily freewheeling newsroom".[30]
Matt Bobkin, writing for Exclaim!, gave the film a 6 out of 10 score, saying the film "has all the makings of an awards season hit, but is too calculated to reflect today's ragged, tenuous sociopolitical climate."
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com reflected on the film nearly two years after its release, noting that due to the film's accessibility and Spielberg's invisible style of direction, critics underrated the film and tended to take its story literally such as by fact-checking historical details, in spite of the film being a "coded commentary" and doubling "as a stealth portrait of the media’s responsibility in the age of Trump, and in any age."[58]
Bob Woodward, a Washington Post journalist who reported on the Watergate scandal, expressed that the film is a "masterpiece".[59]
The film portrays the original role that The New York Times had in breaking the Pentagon Papers and then emphasizes The Washington Post's subsequent involvement.[60][61] In an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, former New York Times associates James Greenfield, who coordinated the Pentagon Papers project as the Times foreign editor; James Goodale, the Times' general counsel at the time; and Max Frankel, the Times' Washington bureau chief when the Papers were published, criticized the film's more minor portrayal of the paper,[62] although The New York Times is shown as publishing the Pentagon Papers before The Washington Post and having also set the stage for the major legal battle between the press and the United States government.[60] The newspaper also won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its contributions.
The 1972 Pulitzer jury of journalists noted in their recommendation not only the significance of Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers leak, but also that of Times reporters Neil Sheehan, Hedrick Smith, Fox Butterfield and E. W. Kenworthy, and stated that their effort was "a combination of investigative reporting, analysis, research, and writing — all of which added to a distinctly meritorious public service, not only for readers of The Times but also for an entire nation."[61] Goodale noted in an article for The Daily Beast that the Times published the Papers after Ellsberg had leaked them to Sheehan, and further stated that the film "creates a false impression that the Post was a major player in such publication. It's as though Hollywood had made a movie about the Times' triumphant role in Watergate."[25] On PBS NewsHour, Goodale further said, "Although a producer has artistic license, I think it should be limited in a situation such as this, so that the public comes away with an understanding of what the true facts are in this case . . . And I think that if you're doing a movie now, when [President Donald] Trump is picking on the press for 'fake news', you want to be authentic. You don't want to be in any way fake."[63]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards | February 5, 2018 | Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Nominated | [64] [65] |
Best Actor | Tom Hanks | Nominated | |||
Best Director | Steven Spielberg | Nominated | |||
Best Time Capsule | The Post | Nominated | |||
Readers' Choice Poll | Nominated | ||||
Academy Awards | March 4, 2018 | Best Picture | Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger | Nominated | [66] [67] |
Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Nominated | |||
Alliance of Women Film Journalists | January 9, 2018 | Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director | Ellen Lewis | Nominated | [68] |
Best Woman Screenwriter | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Nominated | |||
American Cinema Editors | January 26, 2018 | Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic | Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar | Nominated | [69] |
American Film Institute | January 5, 2018 | Top Ten Films of the Year | The Post | Won | [70] |
Art Directors Guild | January 27, 2018 | Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film | Rick Carter | Nominated | [71] |
Casting Society of America | January 18, 2018 | Big Budget – Drama | Rori Bergman, Karlee Fomalont, Ellen Lewis and Kate Sprance | Nominated | [72] |
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | January 11, 2018 | Best Acting Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Nominated | [73] |
Best Actor | Tom Hanks | Nominated | |||
Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Nominated | |||
Best Director | Steven Spielberg | Nominated | |||
Best Editing | Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar | Nominated | |||
Best Original Screenplay | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Nominated | |||
Best Picture | The Post | Nominated | |||
Best Score | John Williams | Nominated | |||
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association | December 13, 2017 | Best Film | The Post | 2nd Place | [74] |
Best Director | Steven Spielberg | 4th Place | |||
Best Actor | Tom Hanks | 5th Place | |||
Best Actress | Meryl Streep | 5th Place | |||
Detroit Film Critics Society | December 7, 2017 | Best Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Won | [75] |
Best Screenplay | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Nominated | |||
Florida Film Critics Circle | December 23, 2017 | Best Cinematography | Janusz Kamiński | Nominated | [76] [77] |
Georgia Film Critics Association | January 12, 2018 | Best Production Design | Rick Carter, Kim Jennings and Deborah Jensen | Nominated | [78] |
Best Original Score | John Williams | Nominated | |||
Best Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Nominated | |||
Golden Globe Awards | January 7, 2018 | Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama | Tom Hanks | Nominated | [79] |
Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama | Meryl Streep | Nominated | |||
Best Director | Steven Spielberg | Nominated | |||
Best Motion Picture – Drama | The Post | Nominated | |||
Best Original Score | John Williams | Nominated | |||
Best Screenplay | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Nominated | |||
Houston Film Critics Society | January 6, 2018 | Best Director | Steven Spielberg | Nominated | [80] |
Best Original Screenplay | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Nominated | |||
Best Picture | The Post | Nominated | |||
Best Score | John Williams | Nominated | |||
Humanitas Prize | February 16, 2018 | Feature – Drama | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Nominated | [81] |
IndieWire Critics Poll | December 19, 2017 | Best Picture | The Post | 10th Place | [82] |
National Board of Review | January 4, 2018 | Best Actor | Tom Hanks | Won | [83] [84] |
Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Won | |||
Best Film | The Post | Won | |||
National Society of Film Critics | January 6, 2018 | Best Supporting Actor | Michael Stuhlbarg | 2nd Place[lower-alpha 1] | [85] |
New York Film Critics Online | December 10, 2017 | Top 10 Films | The Post | Won | [86] |
Online Film Critics Society | December 28, 2017 | Best Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Nominated | [87] [88] |
Producers Guild of America Awards | January 20, 2018 | Best Theatrical Motion Picture | Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger | Nominated | [89] |
San Diego Film Critics Society | December 11, 2017 | Best Editing | Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar | Nominated | [90] |
Best Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Nominated | |||
San Francisco Film Critics Circle | December 10, 2017 | Best Editing | Michael Kahn | Nominated | [91] |
Saturn Awards | June 27, 2018 | Best Thriller Film | The Post | Nominated | [92] |
Seattle Film Critics Society | December 18, 2017 | Best Picture of the Year | Nominated | [93] | |
Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Nominated | |||
Best Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Nominated | |||
St. Louis Film Critics Association | December 17, 2017 | Best Actor | Tom Hanks | Nominated | [94] |
Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Nominated | |||
Best Director | Steven Spielberg | Nominated | |||
Best Editing | Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar | Nominated | |||
Best Original Score | John Williams | Nominated | |||
Best Picture | The Post | Runner-up | |||
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | December 8, 2017 | Best Actress | Meryl Streep | Nominated | [95] |
Best Ensemble | The cast of The Post | Nominated | |||
Best Portrayal of Washington D.C. | The Post | Won | |||
Women Film Critics Circle | December 17, 2017 | Karen Morley Award | Nominated | [96] [97] | |
Writers Guild of America Awards | February 11, 2018 | Paul Selvin Award | Liz Hannah and Josh Singer | Won | [98] |
PRODUCTION: A 20th Century Fox release of a DreamWorks Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Participant Media, Star Thrower Entertainment production.
{{cite web}}
: |author=
has generic name (help){{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)
| |
---|---|
| |
Films directed | |
Films written |
|
Films produced |
|
Television |
|
Video games | |
Family |
|
See also |
|
Richard Nixon | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
Pre-presidency |
| |
Presidency |
| |
Life and politics |
| |
Books |
| |
Elections |
| |
Popular culture |
| |
Related |
| |
Staff |
| |
Family |
| |
|
General |
|
---|---|
National libraries |