Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” — the Pentagon Papers drama starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks — has a nationwide release Jan. 12.
But the first L.A. showings are at 12:01 a.m. Friday — at Arclight theaters in Hollywood and Sherman Oaks.
Only L.A., New York and Washington, D.C., film-goers get the early peek of the PG-13 journalism thriller.
Director Spielberg says the movie will seem drawn from today’s headlines.
“The great revelation that put all of us who made this movie in complete solidarity was the fact that sometimes history is best viewed through a lens, and there was a huge reflecting mirror that could take the date ’71 and flip it to ’17,” he told USA Today.
And not just with a president bashing the press.
Streep’s role as the Washington Post publisher is a #MeToo moment.
“She stood up for herself,” Speilberg says. “The most amazing thing Katharine Graham brought into her world of publishing and high society — and what Meryl Streep brought to the way she played Kay — is a tremendous amount of vulnerability but also in the lowest moments of Kay Graham’s life, there’s great dignity.”
But the Nixon-Trump parallels are inescapable.
“When Nixon (in the movie) says, ‘Well, The New York Times, they’re our enemy, I think we should do it’ — meaning ‘I think we should get [Attorney General] John Mitchell to take them to court and stop them from printing’ — it was a horrible impulse to suppress the truth because they weren’t pleased by the truth.”
Some early reviews from the Newseum premiere:
Saw a screening of @ThePostMovie last night. Outstanding. A love letter to the First Amendment and one woman’s courage. https://t.co/yG2TptzX5j
— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) December 15, 2017
The privilege of being a journalist. An interview and selfie with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, and a great chat with Steven Spielberg about their latest movie The Post.
El privilegio de ser periodista y entrevistar a tres grandes del cine en media hora. pic.twitter.com/zNf8p7pq0N
— JORGE RAMOS (@jorgeramosnews) December 14, 2017
Steven Spielberg on “The Post” (out Dec. 22) during premiere @Newseum last night: “[T]his was a story that had to be made right now because it resonated right now” https://t.co/dxyD1kit5H
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) December 15, 2017
Friend of mine got to go to the premiere of “The Post” at the @Newseum tonight. #Steven Spielberg, #Meryl Streep, #Tom Hanks, #Sarah Paulson, #Bradley Whitford, #Matthew Rhys, #Bob Odenkirk all in the same room. I would’ve just died. She said the movie is great. #Jealous pic.twitter.com/EQsp3YusJ0
— PDS (@silverandsuch) December 15, 2017