Will Ferrell Pulls Out of Controversial Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Movie

[ErikJ]

Source: NBC News


Before it even went into production, a planned satire of Ronald Reagan to be produced by and starring Will Ferrell inspired an outpouring of criticism from conservatives and members of the former president's family.

And by Friday, according to The New York Post, the actor backed out of the project.

According to Variety, the still-untitled project is based on a script from Hollywood's legendary "Black List," an annual collection of the most popular, yet-to-be produced screenplays in the industry.

The film, if it goes forward without Ferrell, will almost surely stoke controversy because its plot purportedly portrays Reagan as suffering from dementia while he was still in office.

"The REAGAN script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered. While it is by no means a 'Alzheimer's comedy' as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project," a spokesperson for the actor told the Post on Friday.

MSNBC has reached out to Will Ferrell's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, which was reportedly developing the film, for comment but has not heard back at this time.

Reagan went public with his Alzheimer's diagnosis in 1994, and while there has long been speculation about his state of mind during his second term in office, there has never been any hard evidence that he suffered from Alzheimer's while president.

Condemnation of the film project came swiftly, and not surprisingly the loudest objections came from right-wing circles — not only because of Ferrell's participation (the "Anchorman" star is a supporter of Democratic candidates and causes, and has a history of sneaking subversive progressive messages into his mainstream comedies), but also because of the potential insensitivity to the health of the former president.

"Alzheimers is not joke…It kills..You should be ashamed," Reagan's son Michael tweeted.

And Reagan's daughter Patti Davis has penned an open letter to Ferrell, in which she wrote: "Perhaps for your comedy you would like to visit some dementia facilities. I have — I didn't find anything comedic there, and my hope would be that if you're a decent human being, you wouldn't either."

Those on the right side of the political spectrum have taken exception to Hollywood's attempts to portray "The Gipper" in the past.

In 2003, CBS was forced to yank a highly touted miniseries about the Reagans after conservative critics railed against the casting — James Brolin, who was cast as the former president, was attacked for being the spouse of outspoken liberal Barbara Streisand — and for dialogue that alluded to Reagan's widely reported apathy during the initial outbreak of the AIDS crisis. Showtime eventually aired the series and Brolin was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe award for his performance.

Lee Daniels' film "The Butler" faced similar criticism 10 years later for depicting Reagan, played by the late British actor Alan Rickman, as being indifferent on civil rights issues. The film covers the 40th president's refusal to support sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa and portrayed him as being generally chilly towards African-American members of the staff at the White House.


"Across the political spectrum, historians, biographers, and former Reagan aides have condemned the movie's outrageous caricature of Ronald Reagan as historically inaccurate and personally unfair, many noting that the president didn't have a racist bone in his body and was actually remarkable in his sensitivities and warmness to blacks and other minorities," wrote Mark Joseph and Paul Kengor in a column for Forbes at the time.

"Reagan," a sure-to-be more flattering biopic based on two books by Kengor, has been in the works for several years. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film "tells Reagan's story through the eyes of Viktor, a KGB agent who kept tabs on Reagan's activities from the time when he was an anti-Communist leader of the Screen Actors Guild."

In 2013, the news that Hollywood icon Michael Douglas would eventually be playing Reagan in a big screen interpretation of the former president's historic 1986 nuclear summit with Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik was also greeted with a collective groan from many on the right, due to the "Wall Street" star's perceived lefty leanings.

Ironically, Reagan had a long history with Hollywood as an actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild. And although he represented a conservative moment that was at odds with many of his peers, he did enjoy an unprecedented level of support from celebrities when he mounted his ultimately successful 1980 campaign for the White House.

"The irony is that Reagan brought Hollywood stagecraft values to the presidency," author and journalist Will Bunch told MSNBC on Thursday. "You could make the argument that Reagan was kind of stepping stone towards Trump, in terms of the way he communicated with the public."


ay. I think there's always been this fear of kind of challenging the narrative of Reagan that's taken hold," argues Bunch, although b

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/will-ferrell-walks-away-controversial-reagan-project-n564976

[MADem]

1. That miniseries with Brolin was a good 'un. Showtime was right to pick it up when CBS wussed.

But I think this is a stinker for Ferrell. Nancy just died. No point in it.

Let 'em go.

[bluestateguy]

3. Yes I remember

CBS was a bunch of gutless cowards. They caved completely to the Noise Machine.

Apparently it wasn't enough for angry conservatives to simply not watch the mini-series; they had to demand that other people not be able to watch it.

At the time I didn't get Showtime and couldn't watch it.

[MADem]

4. I gotta say, that miniseries was the REASON I got Showtime! LOL!

They were smart to run that thing--I've been paying for that shit ever since!

[2naSalit]

2. Too bad...

for once Ronnie Raygun might have seemed entertaining for a little while.

[Dr. Xavier]

5. And the propagation of the Reagan myth continues...

In California politics, it was well known that Ronnie was a racist jerk... an evil man... there are a few film clips that were taken in the 2nd term where he clearly does not know what is going on...

[navarth]

6. He's right not to do it, Alzheimer's just ain't funny, and besides

the story should be told about his treason and fucked up policies, not for physical infirmities that weren't his fault.

[Shemp Howard]

7. Very well said, navarth.

There is nothing funny about the tragedy of Alzheimer's disease. Making a "comedy" about it would be just as repulsive as a right-winger making a"comedy" about FDR's difficulty in walking.

[6chars]

12. Speaking of FDR movies

Check out

"FDR: American Badass"

Starring Barry Bostwick

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1811315/

[forest444]

13. To paraphrase the great man: "the only thing we have to fear,

is schlock itself."

I'm a big schlock horror fan. Can't wait.

[6chars]

14. The star is well-known for his horror movie acting

[forest444]

15. Barry Bostwick from Rocky Horror Picture Show, sure!

But dammit, Janet, it was a little too much musical for me. Even so, lots of laughs.

[pressbox69]

8. So

will he be doing the remake of Bedtime For Bonzo instead?

[valerief]

9. Too bad, because the movie wouldn't be about Reagan as much as the people around him who let him

remain commander-in-chief while impaired. It's an indictment of them. They didn't need an official diagnosis to know something was wrong.

[Retrograde]

11. And that is a story that should be told

St. Ronnie doesn't even have to make an appearance

[Reter]

16. What could they have done?

Let's say it's 1987. How could they get him to step down?

[dflprincess]

17. The 25th Amendment, section 4

[div class = "excerpt"]
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

[Reter]

18. I don't think that would have worked in his case

Even had they all agreed, a Supreme Court challenge was likely. It was meant for paralyzed Presidents who can't do a thing. Reagan was reasonably able, and could function somewhat well. In 1987 he could still talk, walk, and answer a question.

[The Second Stone]

10. Reagan was deeply racist, having launched his campaign in

Philadelphia, Mississippi, which prior to then had only been a small town noted for racial murders. He hid his racism like those on the right do. He should be the subject of mockery. But not for the Alzheimer's.

[not fooled]

19. Whatever.

Reagan is responsible for being the pitchman who foisted incredibly harmful policies on the American people, policies that have killed and continue to kill and harm virtually everyone not in the 1%.

While I can understand feeling that his Alzheimer's should be off limits for satire, on the other hand the puppetmasters behind his presidency had no problem propping him up throughout his second term despite his declining mental state. So, exposing the ridiculousness of a sitting president who really was just performing an act doesn't bother me.

And, don't forget the criminality:

"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."
from p. 184,Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years, by Haynes Johnson, (1991, Doubleday)