{"id":154210,"date":"2024-12-10T22:02:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T22:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/?p=2042055"},"modified":"2024-12-10T22:02:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T22:02:01","slug":"reagan-producer-shares-what-gipper-trump-have-in-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/10\/reagan-producer-shares-what-gipper-trump-have-in-common\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Reagan\u2019 Producer Shares What Gipper, Trump Have in Common"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biopic \u201cReagan<\/a>,\u201d starring Dennis Quaid as the nation\u2019s 40th president, is now available on DVD, Blu-ray<\/a> and digital on demand.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of The Daily Signal,<\/a> interviewed \u201cReagan\u201d producer Mark Joseph over email to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

Rob Bluey: \u201cReagan\u201d exceeded box office expectations, earning over $30 million after its Aug. 30 opening. What do you think resonated so strongly with moviegoers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Joseph<\/strong>: It\u2019s very similar to political polling. Our core audience is difficult to poll because they\u2019re not typical moviegoers. So we doubled official predictions by industry experts for that first weekend. We\u2019re gratified that the film seems to have struck a nerve.<\/p>\n

We received many reports of tears and standing ovations in theaters. I think people yearn for a time when our leaders could fight fiercely in the ring, but then be friends outside of the ring. And that\u2019s one of the things people reacted to\u2014the relationship between [House Speaker] Tip O\u2019Neill and Reagan.<\/p>\n

Q: The movie spans Reagan\u2019s entire life. How did you capture such a long and eventful life in a feature film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> We broke a major Hollywood rule that a biopic is supposed to center on a small window of time in someone\u2019s life. I firmly disagree with this \u201crule,\u201d and I think the audience does as well.
\nTo understand Ronald Reagan without understanding where he came from and the influences in his early years of his parents and his community is simply impossible.<\/p>\n

We knew the rule we were breaking by covering an 80-year span and we did it for a good reason. And we\u2019ll probably do it again. [\u201cReagan\u201d was directed by Sean McNamara and written by Howard Klausner.]<\/p>\n

Q: Dennis Quaid, who plays Reagan, spoke about how this film helped him understand Reagan\u2019s complete story rather than just \u201cbits and pieces.\u201d What were your goals for the movie?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Our goal was to tell his story from beginning to end, and we had a great storyteller in Jon Voight as the KGB agent who knew everything about Reagan. I joked with Jon that this was going to be the greatest acting stretch of his career\u2014for Jon Voight to play a communist. But he was the perfect storyteller to connect all of those bits and pieces.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, when I realized that Reagan\u2019s pastor when he was a young boy was something of an anti-communist activist who invited Soviet dissidents to speak at the church, everything about Ronald Reagan and what he did in Hollywood and on the global stage made sense.<\/p>\n

Q: What were some lesser-known aspects of Reagan\u2019s life that you felt were important to include?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I spent time with 50 of his colleagues and associates, who sometimes let things slip that were lost to history or that didn\u2019t make their biographies so we put those things in here and there and we also had some fun. The scene with Pat Boone, for instance, is one that has been ignored by most historians. But we had Pat, who told us the story exactly as it happened.<\/p>\n

RELATED: ‘REAGAN’ RULES ON AMAZON CHARTS <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The scene with Judge [William] Clark was something that Clark gave me word for word, and George Shultz and Ed Meese were great resources. And I couldn\u2019t resist having some fun with Shultz\u2019s having a tattoo on his rear end, so we had the Russian negotiator bring that up.<\/p>\n

Reagan\u2019s preacher and the doctor who operated on him also helped us to get those scenes post-assassination attempt just right.<\/p>\n

Q: The film\u2019s DVD release follows the presidential election and is on the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. Was this intentional?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: None of our timing\u2014including releasing in an election year in the middle of a campaign\u2014was intentional. This movie had a mind of its own when it came to timing; we were just along for the ride.<\/p>\n

Q: What parallels do you see between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: They\u2019re very different men for very different times. But what they have in common is a keen understanding of the hopes, dreams, and fears of the average American.<\/p>\n

Reagan got it from growing up in the heartland and from spending time on the GE [General Electric] lecture circuit, interacting with workers at GE plants across America. Trump learned it from spending time with workers on construction sites. Both of them got significant numbers of traditionally Democratic voters to vote for them as Republicans.<\/p>\n

Q: What can \u201cReagan\u201d the movie teach us about contemporary politics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: \u201cReagan\u201d reminds us that our leaders can be both tough and gracious and that friendship and relationships should be able to cross party lines. Nobody was tougher against his enemies than Reagan, but he was also gracious and allowed them to maintain their dignity even as he crushed them.<\/p>\n

And he deployed humor against them as well. I put a line in the film where Gorbachev tells Reagan: \u201cThey say about you that he picks your pocket and makes you feel good about it.\u201d Bobby Kennedy [Jr.] told me he urged his Uncle Ted to be tougher on Reagan, but Ted demurred and said even though he disagreed with Reagan, he loved his country.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by REAGAN Movie (@reaganmovie)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n