Frost/Nixon is the the interview as blood sport, with a fallen president and a desperate talk-show host going toe to toe. Director Ron Howard (Happy Days,
Arrested Development, Apollo 13, A Dangerous Mind) saw the play and saw a film in it, and made that film. It's stage versus screen.
Howard explains that his favorite films are those in which people are tested, why he committed to directing Frost/Nixon minutes after seeing it on a London stage, working with the writer Peter Morgan (The Queen) who was nervous about his play becoming a movie.