The "House of Cards" actor sat down with The Late Show's Stephen Colbert to talk about playing the commander in chief in the movie, said the Hollywood Reporter.
"He has been portrayed so many times - he's been imitated so many times. How do you do that without falling into the (making peace signs) 'I'm Richard Nixon,'" Colbert said.
"What I did on set, just to make sure I didn't do that, is I'd go, 'Uh, I love y'all so much'."
"That was the challenge, there I am in the Oval Office set," he said.
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"I obviously did not want to do an imitation or caricature of him, but also not have people think Frank Underwood when the see this movie."
Spacey also remembered about the history of the famous 1970 meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon that the movie brings to life.
"He was very concerned about where the country was," said Spacey of the musician. "He decided that what he needed to do was to offer himself to the country, so he got on an airplane, he flew to Washington, DC - uninvited, unexpected.