Playing Reagan: Dennis Quaid Isn’t The First Actor To Play The Gipper

Conservatives won’t get sucker punched while watching “Reagan.”

The Aug. 30 release, featuring Dennis Quaid as the iconic GOP leader, wasn’t made in Liberal Hollywood. Quaid’s affection for the Gipper is another clue. He’s been sharing his warm feelings for the 40th president across media outlets for some time now.

Need more? Consider the cast, which includes openly conservative actors like Robert Davi, Kevin Sorbo and Jon Voight.

The chances of “Reagan” being a two-hour hit piece hover between slim and none, with Vegas money on the latter.

That hasn’t always been the case when it comes to capturing Reagan on screens large and small. Screenwriters have found Reagan irresistible, but they haven’t always hewed to the truth along the way.

Hollywood’s far-Left biases kept getting in the way.

Project after project has attempted to belittle the GOP leader, but those efforts may have had little effect on the public’s appreciation for the two-term president.

The best example is “The Reagans.” The CBS miniseries, starring James Brolin as the president and Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan, inspired a scandal so large it changed the course of its broadcast plans.

The 2003 project featured several dubious scenes that made Reagan admirers howl. One draft featured Reagan dismissing AIDS sufferers with this line, “They that live in sin shall die in sin.” The quip didn’t make the final cut, but word of its inclusion drowned the project in controversy.

It didn’t help that the real Reagan was alive but deep in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease and couldn’t defend himself.

Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.

The miniseries caused internal chaos at CBS leading to the network punting the project behind a cable paywall … AKA Showtime.

The FX series “Fargo” used an unlikely actor to bring Reagan to life. “Evil Dead” alum Bruce Campbell briefly embodied the president in season two, set in 1979.

A critical scene finds Campbell’s Reagan chatting up a stranger in a men’s bathroom. There’s nothing inappropriate in the exchange, unless you’re a fan of character attacks.

The future president coldly compares his work shooting World War II movies with the stranger’s actual military service.

“Die Hard” favorite Alan Rickman got a crack at playing Reagan in “Lee Daniel’s The Butler” (2013).

Once again, a Hollywood production did its best to mischaracterize the beloved president. The film loosely followed the true-life story of White House butler Eugene Allen, a black employee played by Forest Whitaker.

Scenes showed Allen quitting the job over Reagan’s unwillingness to support South African sanctions and other indignities.

Those closest to Reagan balked at the characterization, noting the leader’s strong stands against racism over the years. Plus, the real butler was reportedly fond of Reagan, undercutting what’s shown on screen.

Adding insult to injury? Casting notorious Hollywood liberal Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan.

Fred Ward, known best for his role in 1990’s “Tremors,” portrayed Reagan in a French film called “Farewell.” The film recalled tense moments between the U.S. and Soviet Union in the 1980s, including an incident President Reagan referred to as, “one of the most important espionage cases of the 20th century.”

Actor Jay Koch briefly played Reagan in not one but three films of various tones – 1995’s “Panther,” 1993’s “Hot Shots! Part Deux” and “Back to the Future Part II” (1989). The professional Reagan impersonator eventually met his real-life inspiration and the cameos in question lacked the partisan rage from other Hollywood projects.

The very worst example of Hollywood maligning Reagan never made it to the screen, but the fact that it came up at all speaks volumes of Hollywood’s hatred of all things Reagan.

Reports said that Will Ferrell was briefly attached to produce and star in a “comedy” highlighting the president’s dementia-addled days in the White House. The concept proved so toxic that Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis and son Michael Reagan publicly condemned the project. They weren’t alone. Ferrell’s representative later suggested he never officially joined the project, written by Mike Rosolio.

We’ll never see a film or TV project tied to President Joe Biden’s obvious mental decline in the Oval Office, comedic or otherwise.

The Reagan/Alzheimer’s script circulated in Hollywood for a while and even attracted a star-laden script reading featuring Nathan Fillion, John Cho and James Brolin, essentially reprising his previous time playing Reagan.

Said script was part of “The Black List,” the insider network of beloved but unproduced screenplays.

Adam McKay, a frequent Ferrell contributor and hardcore Leftist, defended the project.

 I kept saying when that story snowballed, ‘Is there anyone who really thinks Will Ferrell would make a comedy about a horrible disease like Alzheimer’s?’ In a million years no one would do that!

A script review conducted by The Hollywood Reporter suggested the film was as offensive as originally advertised.

But it does revolve around the conceit that the 40th president had no knowledge of where he was or what he was doing throughout his entire second term. 

Insiders say the real Reagan did not display signs of his eventual Alzheimer’s diagnosis in his final years in the White House. Others disagreed, including son Ron Reagan. A New York Times medical writer Larry Altman investigated the topic extensively and disagreed with the young Reagan’s assessment.

The film site IMDB.com lists the screenplay as “in development,” but there have been no sizable updates on the project in the press.

We don’t know what Quaid’s “Reagan” will share until it opens nationwide. It’s clear the project will be a starkly different Reagan than ones we’ve seen before from La La Land.

* * *

Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI

Continue reading this exclusive article and join the conversation, plus watch free videos on DW+

Already a member?