together, they adapted david mitchell's novel, thought to be unfilmable. the producer or originally wanted to make the film together with a hollywood studio, but things turned out differently. >> the biggest problem we had was during the world wide economic crisis, and no studio wanted to make this film for $180 million or $200 million, so we came up with the idea of how we could finance it for about $100 million in the old- fashioned way we have developed in europe -- namely through co- production and co-financing. >> to save money, the filmmakers shot everything in europe. my orchestra in for the pacific islands of the 19th century -- majorca stood in for the pacific islands. the future was shot near berlin. >> we have several sets running parallel to each other in this studio and in the studio next door, which is even bigger. there were many stories -- 6, in fact -- which were produced parallel to each other all in different genres with different sets. >> working in parallel this way also save money. >> we have proven now that with only a few people --

danville tonight, ron, thank you, and for us, the rest of the political team, chuck todd, andrea mitchell, david gregory, you get to go first because you have the new poll numbers on where the race stands. >> reporter: i did, we debated the numbers, florida, ohio, virginia, the president had small leads in virginia and florida, a big lead in ohio. when we went back to the states to see if things had changed, well, we found small changes, not big ones. romney now leads by a point in virginia, in florida, still, a point lead for the president. and look at ohio, a six-point lead down from eight, but the president is still over 50%, there is a reason why, early voters. according to the numbers, one in five people in ohio cast a vote. and among those, the president has two thirds of the voters. that accounts for why he has a surprisingly big lead. there was not a lot of movement, post-debate one point, romney made leads on who to handle the economy in virginia and florida, something he has got to crack. >> all right, chuck todd at the venue, we'll talk to you later tonight. andrea mitchell, this form

david. "andrea mitchell reports" live from hofstra university. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, alex.oming up round two. we'll talk about the debate, town hall strategy, with both campaigns. we have robert gibbs, a noisy crowd behind me of students, romney campaign adviser kevin madden plus tom brocade, chris cizilla, michael gerson, john heilemann and senator callie hyattp. all that plus secretary of state hillary clinton responds to tough attacks on libya from the republicans about benghazi. we'll talk to kelly ayotte about that as well. join me live from hofstra, debate day, coming up next. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals. ♪ ambiance [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked. [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. thank you,

>> andrea mitchell past our team out at hofstra tonight. andrea, thanks. that brings us to david gregory with us here in the studio. we started out the broadcast by saying the last debate really did move the numbers. even numbers that were starting to set, if you look at them like cement. by that standard tonight could move them once again? >> it's so important. on the up side for the president if he does really well here, could he restore what he had, which is an edge in this race, or does he fall back even further. from having an edge to having it be a tight race to getting behind? here's the reality, and the obama team knows it. they are losing ground on their effort to disqualify mitt romney as an alternative to president obama. now the president's got to be more forward looking. does he have a prescription for what he wants to do with the next four years and can he win that agenda tonight? a lot of confidence in the romney team, why? because they think the people got a second look, and they realized, this is not the guy we're seeing in all those nasty obama campaign ads. he'

mitchells live there. it was not just the headquarters of was there to be burgled. >> now, david mariness -- thomas mallon, yesterday we spent some time here at the national book festival. do they feature in watergate to the novel? >> in a minor way they come and go. julie nixon was a very valiant defender for father. david eisenhower was a good father lot throughout the scandal. julie nixon wrote a very good could -- a good book about her mother, of the least known of the first lady's that we had in modern times. never heard from again after the nixons left the white house, never did interviews, never wrote her own memoirs. and mrs. nixon was somebody i tried to bring to life in the book. >> you have written several historical fiction books, nonfiction, novels. how do you approach historical

david gregory with "meet the press" and tom brokaw next on "andrea mitchell reports."dant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" eyewitness view. president obama expected to arrive any minute now in new jersey to survey the devastation for himself. after getting

i've been told david axelrod had been planning to take charge of the debate camp, and now he is in charge with the vice president's team. >> andrea mitchell, thank you. >> you bet. >>> another story we're following tonight, gas prices. they're dropping across much of the country which make the soaring increases in california all the more startling. the average price there $4.61 for a gallon of regular, the highest it's ever been. nbc's diana alviar. >> reporter: prices like these make californians consider staying at home. >> it costs $105 to fill up my tank report report it climbed 12 cents overnight to $4.61. that matches the state record set in june 2008. it's as high as $5 at a few stations in the state. the national average is lower, $3.81 a gallon, but still, the highest ever for this time of year. and yet, prices are beginning to fall across the country. so why are californians getting hit so hard? >> there's a bit of a perfect storm of bad events, really. we had a slow supply level of gasoline because we're going into the winter formulation blend season and on top of that, refining problems and an oil pipeline problem and the whol

pacific joined by jonathan capehart, david corn of mother jones and "the new york times" nate silver. until then find us at facebook.com/nowwithalex. "andrea mitchellext. good afternoon. >> thanks so much. the expectations game heating up ahead of this week's first presidential debate. with two days to go until denver we'll talk to former bush speechwriter michael gerson. virginia governor bob mcdonnell. from the obama campaign jen saki. lester holt is live in afghanistan where three more americans died today after a suicide bomb. and curry reports from the syrian border. is iraq beginning to come apart at seams? more on that to come. "andrea mitchell reports" next on msnbc. xwch ♪ it has everything to put you in the malibu state of mind no matter what state you live in. ♪ stay top of mind with customers? from deals that bring them in with an offer... to social media promotions that turn fans into customers... to events that engage and create buzz... to e-mails that keep loyal customers coming back, our easy-to-use tools will keep you in front of your customers. see what's right for you at constantcontact.com/try.

mitchell, thanks. back to our panel here. david gregory, a question we took a glancing blow at earlier, how much did this matter tonight? >> well, i'm hearing from a lot of people on twitter who see this as basically a tie. maybe some points biden, maybe some points to ryan. i think you said it before, this is really about next tuesday. i think it's going to be k difficult for the president to be as aggressive as his vice president was, but i think this was a proxy fight. i think this is laying the groundwork for the president of the united states to come out as a different candidate when he faces off against governor romney gechbagain. the threshold question, you know, we have a sitting vice president, can paul ryan handle himself? yeah, they were both knowledgeable, they both were prepared, they both gave strong defenses. this is really about next tuesday. >> you mentioned twitter. it's called social media, people get to be concerned with whatever they get to be concerned with, including the issue of lapel pins. take a look at th

. >> this morning we've got david gregory, eugene robinson, chuck todd and andrea mitchell.mr. margin. mr. margin? don't be modest, bob. you found a better way to pack a bowling ball. that was ups. and who called ups? you did, bob. i just asked a question. it takes a long time to pack a bowling ball. the last guy pitched more ball packers. but you... you consulted ups. you found a better way. that's logistics. that's margin. find out what else ups knows. i'll do that. you're on a roll. that's funny. i wasn't being funny, bob. i know. on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪ free streaming quotes, all your investments, positions, and even your trade ticket are all on one customizable page. see

david gregory, chris cizilla and our all star panel. my conversation with actor director ben affleck about "argo" next on "andrea mitchell reports." >>> righta mitchell reports" the day after the danville. the number twos clashed early and often on foreign policy a

david gregory, chris cizilla and our all star panel. my conversation with actor director ben affleck about "argo" next on "andrea mitchell reports." >>> rightrea mitchell reports" the day after the danville. the number twos clashed early and often on foreign policy and taxes. >> has never been done before. >> it's been done a couple of times. >> it has never -- >>

andrea mitchell is part of our team. thank you. davidregory, as we mentioned earlier, the president hung his argument on libya. this question of terrorism predicated it on the use of the word in his remarks from the rose garden. this is going to get thoroughly hashed out. >> it is, because romney said tonight you never called it an act of terror. he uses the president does those very words in the rose garden in response to the attack. at the same time the president refers to the idea that there was some injury to islam that was no justification for violence. the reality is the administration for days suggested including on "meet the press" and our venues by susan rice that it was a sfons to the video like in cairo. it was later they determined, in fact, no, this was a terrorist act. there's all kinds of questions about security, what they knew at what particular time, gauging the threat, the terrorist threat in libya and goes to the largest question of the entire region. romney misfired on that tonight by getting caught up in what the pr

andrea mitchell, who spent the evening going through facts for us in denver. davidgory, one more whack at what may be happening in the circles around these candidates. i guess if you're the president's team do you review tape like an nfl team? >> yeah. i think partially they'll do that. just to make him crisper. i think part of what they've tried to do all along is disqualify romney as a credible alternative. as chuck alluded to, you're elevated when you're on the stage with the president. so i think that's where they try to go to work. and they're going to hammer away at a lot of those specifics, too, in campaign ads and on the stump. >> there will be more coverage on your late local news and of course tomorrow morning on "today." we'll have a wrap-up, the day's analysis, and perhaps how this shakes out politically in some of the those battleground states tomorrow evening on nbc "nightly news." for our teams from denver to washington to new york, for everyone here at nbc news, i'm brian williams. good night.

>> reporter: nbc objected saying mitchell's fact-checking reports was also critical of obama's claims. >> i think our tendency is always to say that... >> reporter: daviditical tussle. >> they find it useful to use them as ammo but not useful to abide by them. >> reporter: he worries that in general many mainstream fact-checkers are too concerned about finding an equal amount of falsehoods by each candidate. >> people think that everyone is going to be treated as equal opportunity: liars, fibbers, pre-vair indicators, whatever you want to call them. then the person who does it more doesn't pay a price for doing it more. >> reporter: but glen kessler, a fact-checker for the "washington post," famed for giving out pinocchio noses for falsities says it's not about finding balance. >> i don't pay attention to how many democrats i've rated or how many republicans i've rated >> reporter: he says there are plenty of pinocchios for both sides especially when it comes to campaign ads. here's one from the obama camp. >> but as a corporate raider, he shipped jobs to china and mexico. >> he describes him as a corporate raider. you know, bane capital, whatever you

mitchell live in washington. the presidential debates are over. the campaigns now in a frantic nonstop push for seven battleground states. and who will get a bump out of both? joining me david axelrod, senior adviser to the obama campaign. thank you very much, david, for being with us. >> good to be with you. >> got a plan, got a pamphlet. deja vu all over again as yogi berra would say, reminded me of putting people first, bill clinton after the new hampshire primary he had that pamphlet in florida when he went down battling off the late paul son gas. what is the strategy in coming up with a pamphlet now with only 14 days to go? >> of course, the pamphlet reflects the ideas that the president has advanced throughout this campaign about where we need to go as a country, building on the progress that we've made, andrea. it's the plan that he talked about at the conventions. it's the plan that he talks about every day. we wanted to codify it and put it in one place as voters making their final decisions, contemplate those decisions they have a chance to look at the specific ideas the president is offering. to advance our education system, rebuild our manufacturing sector, to b