Trivia / All the President's Men

• Actor-Inspired Element: While meeting with Carl Bernstein, Dustin Hoffman noticed that Bernstein smoked so much that there were traces of cigarette ash on all of his shirts and ties, so he made sure that was included in the movie, as well as the line directed at Bernstein, "Is there any place you don't smoke?"
• Approval of God: In a bizarre example, Nixon's chief of staff H.R. Haldeman saw the movie in theaters shortly before reporting to prison for Watergate-related crimes. According to his wife Jo, Haldeman enjoyed the movie and laughed uproariously at the line where Deep Throat chastises Woodward that "you've got people feeling sorry for Haldeman. I didn't think that was possible." Though he told her afterwards that he was grateful that no one in the theater recognized him.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: The famous "Follow the money" line doesn't appear in either the book nor any documentations of Watergate.
• Cast the Expert: Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in at the Watergate complex, plays... Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in at the Watergate complex.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Hal Holbrook was considered for Ben Bradlee before being cast as Deep Throat.^note  He was cast in the latter role at the insistence of Bob Woodward, who noticed (but did not reveal until thirty years later) that Holbrook bore a strong physical resemblance to W. Mark Felt (the real Deep Throat).
• Creator Backlash: According to Ben Bradlee, the real Howard Simons felt that he and his role were fatally shortchanged in the script and that he never got over his resentment.
• Dawson Casting: Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are seven years older than Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
• Deleted Role: The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham was in a scene in the Woodward and Bernstein book, and when that part was being cast, Geraldine Page was selected, but the scene was cut from the script because the real Graham didn't want to be included in the film.
• From Entertainment to Education: The film is still shown to aspiring students of journalism.
• Method Acting: In a way. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman memorized each other's lines so they could interrupt each other and step on each other's lines, making the dialogue sound more natural. Several of their scenes together are also fully or partially ad-libbed.
• Overtook the Manga: The full story of Watergate was still on-going when the book was published on June 1974, so the Watergate hearings and Nixon's resignation, which happened on July and August respectively, are only related in the movie by teletyped headlines before the end credits.
• Playing Against Type: At the time, Jason Robards was best known for playing flawed, weak-willed characters in the plays of Eugene O'Neill. Here, he plays Da Editor Ben Bradlee.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: During pre-production of the casting process, Bob Woodward, while looking at various actors' head shots and resumes, but not revealing Deep Throat's true identity (being the former Deputy Director of the FBI, Mark Felt), insisted to Alan J. Pakula that Hal Holbrook was the best choice to play Deep Throat.
• Throw It In!: One scene involving Robert Redford on the phone is a continuous six-minute single take with the camera tracking in slowly. Towards the end, Redford calls the phone caller by the wrong name, but as he stays in character. It appears genuine, and the take was used in the final cut.
  • Since he was playing Executive Editor Ben Bradlee, Jason Robards felt that Bradlee should always have a presence in the newsroom, and as Executive Editor, Bradlee would need to be present daily, so on days when he wasn't filming scenes with other actors, he made the choice to come in and stay in the Bradlee office set so when the scenes are taking place between Woodward, Bernstein, and other reporters, Bradlee can often be glimpsed in the background seated at his desk. Sometimes Robards would bring a book to read.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Robert Redford was involved in the project even before it became a movie (he befriended Woodward while he and Bernstein were preparing the book) and originally planned to produce it without appearing in it himself. Warner Bros., however, made it clear that they would only fund the movie if Redford starred as well as produced. It was originally going to star Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty.
  • John Schlesinger declined an offer to direct. He felt the story of Watergate should be told by an American. Mike Nichols and Sydney Pollack were also considered to direct before Alan J. Pakula signed on.
  • Redford first selected Al Pacino to play Bernstein, but after some thought, he decided that Dustin Hoffman was a better fit for the role.
  • The real Ben Bradlee initially recommended George C. Scott to play him. Henry Fonda, Gene Hackman, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Leslie Nielsen, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Telly Savalas and Robert Stack were also considered.
  • Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn and Patricia Neal were considered for Katherine Graham before the character was dropped from the script.
  • Bernstein and his then-wife Nora Ephron wrote an unsolicited version of the script, which Bernstein brought to the film producers. It managed to anger just about everyone involved in the project, particularly Woodward who objected that their screenplay "made Bernstein the center of the Universe." William Goldman, the contracted screenwriter, considered the alternate script unusable and scrapped it all save for a scene where Bernstein sneaks into the D.A.'s office by placing a fake phone call to his secretary. Ephron was just starting her career at the time and didn't realize how badly the unsolicited alternate script breached Hollywood industry norms. She apologized to Goldman years later.

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