1974 witnessed one of America’s biggest political scandals which sent shockwaves throughout the country and culminated in the resignation of disgraced President Richard Nixon following Watergate.

Twenty-five years after “Dick” left office, filmmaker Andrew Fleming (The Craft, Emily In Paris, Younger) made a satirical film about the Watergate scandal in 1999 called Dick, starring the youthful Kirsten Dunst as Betsy Jobs and Michelle Williams as Arlene Lorenzo, two naïve interns who uncover Nixon’s actions. Dick also stars SNL alumni Harry Shearer as G. Gordon Liddy, and Washington Post reporters Will Ferrell as Bob Woodward and Jim Breuer as John Dean.

Twenty-five years later, Andrew Fleming shares his original intention for his smart comedy with Creative Screenwriting Magazine and why its political message still resonates strongly with savvy audiences today.

“Dick began with a conversation with my co-screenwriter, Sheryl Longin. It was really about how we, as members of Gen X were separating ourselves from baby boomers because they had a whole different set of cultural reference points. We really only had the energy crisis and hostages and Watergate,” says Fleming. “

Fleming and his cultural demographic wanted the Watergate scandal to define the 70s era when he grew up. “Dick was originally a story about a family, but there was always a teenage girl and her friend in it. The story kept changing, but we loved them because they had this blithe-heavy, optimistic attitude towards what was going on during a cynical time.”

Dick is both anachronistic and contemporary as echoes of the Watergate scandal still ring true. Fleming remembers the Nixon years when he was repeatedly lying to the people to their faces.

“Democrats and Republicans condemned Nixon and said we need to make a change about criminal behavior on the part of the president. The main difference today is that people are more willing to turn a blind eye,” Fleming laments.

Dick is a combination of denialism and asking what the big deal is. Everyone lies a little bit.

Andrew Fleming

Dick is Andrew Fleming’s fourth film and he wouldn’t remake it differently if given the opportunity. “That’s where I finally got clear and confident. The script was audacious enough that it attracted really talented people.” Fleming might change certain things about some of his other movies, but not this one.

Andrew Fleming and co-writer Sheryl Longin sought to make a grounded, honest movie rather than a riotous political comedy. The actual events were so outrageous they didn’t need to be embellished.

“The truth of the actual events was so slapstick. We accessed a lot of the tapes and transcripts of what Nixon said. We quoted him in a bunch of scenes, but we left out the worst of it. He was a homophobe, a racist, a misogynist, and an anti-semite. He would say anything. Dick is an outlandish character who surrounded himself with outlandish people.”

America Won’t Be Lied To

Betsy and Arlene are two all-American girls, who imbued the attitudes of the time. They are idealistic and naïve. But not stupid. They will fight for what’s right.

“It’s an odd construction because Betsy and Arlene really don’t have many differences. We didn’t treat them like separate characters and there’s no conflict between them. We really thought of them as one brain tracking what it’s like to be a young person and then become disillusioned by something, and having to fight back and do what you believe.”

The girls are betrayed and seek justice in their silliness, but also, in their seriousness. “I don’t like films that are all just silly or all serious. I love the way the reality of the moment crept up on them in this movie. There has to be an emotional payoff at the end,” adds Fleming.

“Nixon was an easy target. Dan Ackroyd had lampooned him in real time many times. It was easy to laugh at him, but it was it was more complicated to to take a critical or satirical stance towards some of the minor players like Rose Mary Woods (Anna Gasteyer) who really didn’t do anything wrong,” states Fleming.

Characters like Carl Bernstein (Bruce McCulloch), who are still alive, were portrayed truthful to their public personas. Ironically, the real John Dean preferred telling the Betsy and Arlene story because Watergate wasn’t that interesting to him.

Dick ends with a big message in a big scene. Dick leaves office and a girl in a department store sees him and declares, “They’re never gonna lie to us again.”

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