Frost/Nixon Character Card #1 Michael Sheen as David Frost

As David Frost moved the role to film, however, he grew even more comfortable in Frost’s skin.  “I’ve lived with this character for over a year, and the basics of the way I see him didn’t really change from stage to film,” he notes.  “It’s just about being specific to your audience.  I suppose on stage you play to the audience in the room, and on film you play to the camera.  The big difference on stage is that you have to pretend you’re on an airplane or pretend you’re at the Western White House, etc.  For the film, I only had to be there.

“Playing a character who exists in real life obviously brings two sets of responsibilities,” Sheen continues.  “You have the responsibility that you always have with any character you play—to the writer, to the story.  You’ve also got the responsibility to the real person.  But inevitably, there are elements of the real person that are going to help the story more than others.  If we made Frost look overly competent, then the tension and the suspense of what’s going to happen in the interviews would be lost.  Inevitably, you have to play up certain elements which the real person may find some argument in.”

The long days on stage and set were made easier for Sheen by the help of his constant companion in the work, Langella.  He reflects, “It’s been an amazing journey.  Pretty much every day, nonstop for 18 months, we’ve told this story together.  It’s always seemed fresh, and it’s always seemed no matter what environment we’re in—theater or in front of the camera—there’s a spark that’s there.  We both respond to it and to each other.  That chemistry is a rare thing.”     

Three-time BAFTA nominee Michael Sheen (David Frost) has gained a prominent place among the talented new generation of British actors on screen and stage. He earned a BAFTA nod for Best Supporting Actor in The Queen and garnered two more for Best Actor in the television comedies Kenneth Williams; Fantabulosa! And Dirty Filthy Love, The Queen also brought him the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sheen was most recently seen on screen in Music Within, the story of Richard Pimentel, an early champion of the rights of the disabled and a primary activist behind the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sheen portrayed his best friend Art, a wheel-chair bound genius who suffers from cerebral palsy that uses his wit to deflect the prejudice associated with his twisted form.

Prior to that, he was seen in Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou, and as the British Prime Minister in Stephen Frears' The Queen. The Queen marked Sheen's third collaboration with Frears. He first played the British Prime Minister in Frears' television feature The Deal and made his feature film debut in the director's Mary Reilly, playing Dr. Jekyll's footman.

Sheen's other feature film credits include Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven; Laws of Attraction, starring with Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore, Timeline directed by Richard Donner, Underworld; Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things, Shekhar Kapur's The Four Feathres, starring in Heartlands, directed by Damien O'Donnell (East is East); and Wilde with Stephen Fry and Jude Law. Sheen trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Lodon where, in his second year, he won the coveted Laurence Olivier Bursary for consistently outstanding performances. While still a student at RADA, Sheen landed a starring role opposite Vanessa Redgrave in 1991's When She Dances, which marked his West End debut.

Sheen has since earned Olivier Award nominations for his performance as Mozart in Peter Hall's revival of Amadeus, Look, Back in Anger and Caligula, for which he also won a London Critics' Circle Award and a London Evening Standard Theatre Award. He has received acclaim for his performances in such plays as Romeo and Juliet. Peer Gyny and Henry V. In 1999, Sheen made his Broadway debut, reprising the title role in Amadeus.

Most recently on stage, Sheen received a Distinguished Performance Award nomination from the Dram League, among other accolades, for his Broadway stage origination of the role of David Frost in Peter Morgan's play. This followed the sold-out run in London, where Sheen received nominations for Best Actor from the Olivier Awards and Evening Standard Awards.

At the beginning of this year, Sheen completed production in Under: Rise of the Lycans, in which he reprises his role as the dark Lycan master, Lucian. The film also marks the directed debut of special-effects wiz Patrick Tatopoulos and stars Sheen and Bill Nighy.

Sheen will next shoot The Damned United, which chronicles the larger-than-life soccer manager Brian Clough's turbulent 44 days in charge of Leeds United in 1974 (then one of England's most successful soccer teams.) The film stars Sheen as Clough, and will be directed by Tom Hopper (John Adams) with a screenplay by Peter Morgan, based on David Pearce's novel.

The film opens in selected cities 12/5 and 12/12 with a nationwide release on Christmas Day. 

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