Reagan is a sweeping new biopic that tells the story of the late President Ronald Reagan in its entirety. Set to be released in U.S. theaters on August 30, it stars Dennis Quaid, Penelope Ann Miller, Robert Davi, Lesley-Anne Down, and Jon Voight.
Earlier this week, we sat down with Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) and Miller (Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story) to learn more about how they approached playing Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
As well as offering a deep dive into doing the President and First Lady justice on screen, the actors share insights into why it was important to also explore Ronald and Nancy's shared history in Hollywood.
His journey to the Oval Office aside, Reagan is an epic love story that provides a rarely-seen glimpse into Hollywood's Golden Age. It also delivers a surprisingly no-holds-barred account of how the future President's acting career ultimately fizzled out.
You can check out the full interview with Quaid and Miller about Reagan below.
This is an epic political and love story, but you also get to explore some key moments in Hollywood history. What did you both enjoy most about exploring Ronald and Nancy’s shared history there?
Penelope: Well, I think the fact that they both were actors and that obviously we can relate to that…finding their love story and learning about it, to me, was so fascinating. It was information I didn’t know and that’s what is fun for me as an artist. It’s finding things out about these iconic figures that you didn’t know. I think that’s hopefully what’s fun for the audience too, to see all the different sides. Seeing his beginnings; he came from very humble beginnings, the fact his father was an alcoholic and how his mother played a key role in his life and his love for Nancy helped lift him to become the man he became.
All that to me and seeing, like you said, his first marriage in Hollywood and being a Screen Actor’s Guild President, being a Democrat and turning Republican…all those things maybe people don’t know but there is the epic part of it and the historical part of it, but there’s [also] the heart. I think this love story is the heart of the film and hopefully moves people by the end of it as well.
Dennis: What she said [Laughs]. It was a part that I…he was my favourite President and so I didn’t say ‘yes’ right away. But I didn’t say ‘no.’ I had to get to a place where I could feel him. That took a while because I wanted to do it justice.
Penelope: We both wanted to play real people. We didn’t want to play impersonations. We needed to learn as much as we could to find out all those nuances. It’s also great to be in a movie about characters and real people. We had so much fun playing opposite each other and, I don’t know, I don’t think there are many movies out there right now which are like this. Everybody can go see it and it’s not just an action-filled special effects horror film [Laughs].
Dennis: We all go to movies to feel things more than to see things. This is big on that. Whether you were alive during that time or not. If you were alive during that time, you can remember what this country was like and, if you weren’t, you can realise what this country could still be, by the way. We all went through this. It was the greatest generation really. Reagan and Nancy were part of America’s greatest generation. World War II, the Depression, and what they sacrificed and what they accomplished…they won the Cold War along with Maggie Thatcher and The Pope and Lech Wałęsa.
Penelope: Well, their years in the White House in the ‘80s…everything goes back to that decade and have great memories of the Reagan Years. Those eight years in the White House. You look back on it and that was my childhood. It was fun. It was fun to step into those shoes, however big and daunting a task it was. I think it was fun to go back there and, hopefully, audiences will feel the same way.
Dennis: John Travolta dancing with Princess Di in the White House. That was a good one.
Penelope: Those were the Reagan Years.
As you said, Dennis, Ronald Reagan remains an iconic, beloved figure and many people’s favourite President. What was the biggest challenge of perfecting his mannerisms and the inflections in his voice?
Dennis: Well, with the mannerisms and everything, which is what everybody does, it was about making them natural. I had a year to do that with the voice. It was really about getting under the skin, something that people don’t know or generally. Or at least making a decision about that and just feeling close to him. You know, Reagan was also, during his Presidency, everyone’s day in a way for better or for worse. Either your good dad or the strict dad that you rebelled against or whatever. He was that to everybody and those feelings still prevail even today. He was a man of principles who stuck to those principles.
Penelope: I think it helped too that we watched a lot of interviews and read books. Obviously, you can see him in so many places and photographs just to capture the expressions and the voice. In essence, essentially, we wanted to capture that.
Dennis: It’s also a love story. At it’s core, it is. Otherwise, just do a documentary. You could go through that in a half hour on YouTube, you know what I mean? This really gets into the very human experience that everybody can relate to.
Penelope: I think without their love story…first of all, there would have been no President Ronald Reagan if it wasn’t for Nancy. Even Ronnie appreciated that about her. He wrote her these love notes every day which is something you don’t hear about very often or hear about him. These were things that were surprising to all of us but it was so cool to see that and see the driving force that created this man and their relationship. And seeing how it ends up with him getting Alzheimer's and what that must have felt like at the time for a man who was so eloquent and a great communicator.
Dennis: The movie covers him as a boy in Dixon, Illinois, all the way through when he did say goodbye to the American people after finding out he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. That was a very courageous thing to do back then. It wasn’t talked about and that’s probably his last living legacy.
From dusty small-town roots, to the glitter of Hollywood, and then on to commanding the world stage, 'Reagan' is a cinematic journey of overcoming the odds. Told through the voice of Viktor Petrovich, a former KGB agent whose life becomes inextricably linked with Ronald Reagan's when Reagan first catches the Soviets’ attention as an actor in Hollywood, this film offers a perspective as unique as it is captivating. Dennis Quaid brings to life a story that transcends the boundaries of a traditional biopic, offering a profound exploration of the enduring impact of the power of one man who overcame the odds, sustained by the love of a woman who supported him in his journey.
Reagan arrives in theaters on August 30, 2024.