‘White House’
Liddy and Hunt eventually coalescing with members of the Committee to Re-elect the President.
The rest, as they say, is history.
And although the story of the scandal that eventually led to Nixon’s resignation has loomed large in American media over the past 50 years — being told countless times through virtually every medium — “White House Plumbers” is an innovative retelling of those remarkable events as it focuses on two lesser-known yet vital characters.
“They’re the ones that did the break-in. There’s no Watergate break-in without the burglars,” said director David Mandel, almost incredulous that their story has been so relegated in prior on-screen Watergate adaptations.
While the series is classified as a political drama, its tone and content are reflective of Mandel’s background in comedy, which includes writing credits on “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” with Harrelson and Theroux portraying almost Wes Anderson-esque caricatures of the two men.
“There’s something wonderful and funny about playing overconfidence and stupidity at the same time,” Theroux said, though he qualified his statement to concede their intellect.
“They were both extremely bright men. I don’t want to make them sound stupid,” he said, attributing their willingness to take such drastic and risky measures to their fear of communism.
The series exploits the fact that their stories are comparably unfamiliar ones in the Watergate saga. Although “White House Plumbers” is filled with outrageous mishaps and antics that are bound to have viewers skeptical of its historicity, Mandel maintains he stuck closely to the archive and was “true to the overall insanity” of their story.
“The key important historical things, including some major blunders, those are accurate,” Harrelson attested.
Mandel still remembers the stranger-than-fiction nature of present-day politics from his time as showrunner on the satirical comedy “Veep,” but his prior experience didn’t make the deja vu he had from Trump’s return to the headlines ahead of the premiere of his new series any less trippy.
“History was already starting to repeat itself, thanks to, obviously, the HBO marketing department, who arranged for Trump to be indicted,” he joked. “You set out to tell a political story that you want to tell. And strangely, as you’re telling it, it only becomes more relevant.”
During production, the cast and crew spent several weeks filming and living at The Watergate Hotel, something Theroux believed was important