10 Things to Know About 'Secret Honor' (1984)

10 Things to Know About Secret Honor

10 Based on a One Man Show

The same year that Secret Honor debuted in theaters, it was also on stage as a one man show with star Phillip Baker Hall playing Richard Nixon as he would when Secret Honor hit the big screen. It’s a rare moment when fans could see the play and the feature film of that play in the same year.

9 Phillip Baker Hall Gave his All to the Role

Speaking to reporters following a presentation of the stage play, Secret Honor, Phillip Baker Hall showed off his Secret Honor shawl, a blanket he had to wear after each performance. According to Hall he sweated so much while performing as Richard Nixon that his tie got wet. The shawl was the only he could recover following each performance.

8 Actors Aren’t Liable for Libel

One of the reservations that Hall had about taking on the role of Richard Nixon in Secret Honor was that the play is a pointed critique of the former President as a corrupt and deeply paranoid criminal. Then, Hall was informed that actors aren’t liable for libel claims, freeing him of any responsibility in case the former President, who was still alive at the time, reviewed his legal options.

7 Nixon as a Symptom of America

In the same interview, Phillip Baker Hall stated that while Nixon is the star of Secret Honor, the real critique is of the America that made Nixon possible.

“Nixon actually is a metaphor for certain traits in the American character, traits we must learn to recognize if we are ever to grow out of our adolescence."

6 Richard Nixon Was Aware of Secret Honor

The Former President, the central figure of Secret Honor, was aware of the play and eventual movie. Publicists for the play sent Nixon a press package for the New York run of Secret Honor and free tickets. The cheeky reporters from the New York Post even tried to get Nixon to see the play, contacting his secretary:

“When the secretary answered that Nixon wasn’t interested in Broadway, the reporter admitted that the play was actually Off-Broadway to which the secretary replied, “In that case, Mr. Nixon is even less interested.'"

5 Robert Altman Bought the Film Rights One Day After Seeing the Play

Legendary director Robert Altman fell hard for Secret Honor. Less than 24 hours after seeing Hall on stage as Nixon in 1984, the director put up $200,000 dollars into a new bank account as a planned budget while obtaining the right to make the one man show into a movie.

4 Wait, What am I Going to Cut to?

Altman was a bit over-excited to make Secret Honor. So excited that he had absolutely no idea how to turn a one man show into a cinematic experience. The solution came when Altman noticed a bank of televisions on the set of the play and turned them into a series of security cameras, including one focused on the room in which the former President was delivering his paranoid monologue. The choice was ingenious as the security cameras underlined the former President’s paranoia, a key part of Hall’s characterization of Nixon.

3 Filmed at the University of Michigan

In January of 1984, Robert Altman and his crew along with 30 University of Michigan grad students, transformed the Martha Cook Residence’s Gold Room into Richard Nixon’s private study where actor Phillip Baker Hall would meltdown playing the former President.

2 Robert Altman Taught at the University of Michigan

Robert Altman could not have been more busy at the University of Michigan in January of 1984. Not only did Altman direct Secret Honor the film, he also directed the play on the stage at Michigan while also working on his first opera. And, as if he wasn’t busy enough, Altman also agreed to teach at the University of Michigan as a visiting Professor of Journalism.

1 Disclaimer

Secret Honor opens on a pre-roll disclaimer in order to indemnify everyone from being responsible for potentially slandering a former President, even one as scandalous already as President Nixon.

It reads:

"This work isn a fictional meditation concerning the character of and events in the history of Richard M. Nixon, who is impersonated in this film. The dramatist's imagination has created some fictional events in an attempt to illuminate the character of President Nixon.

This film is not a work of history 0r historical recreation. It is a work of fiction, using as a fictional character, a real person, President Richard M. Nixon-- in an attempt to understand"