London fest kicks off with 'Frost/Nixon'

October 15, 2008 Howard and "Frost/Nixon" producer Brian Grazer were joined at the screening and the festival's glittering opening-night party by Working Title's Eric Fellner and key cast members including Frank Langella, Martin Sheen, Matthew MacFadyen and Kevin Bacon. Grazer thanked his paymasters at Universal -- name-checking key studio players including Ron Meyer, Marc Shmuger and David Linde -- for backing the heavyweight political drama, saying that turning the successful play into a film was "a hard one to say 'yes' to." The red carpet gala, one of a slew of special events programmed by the organizers of the 52nd edition of the U.K.'s largest noncompetitive film festival, was introduced to a packed house by festival director Sandra Hebron.

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