Happy birthday, Ronald Reagan. What making a movie about our 40th president taught me about his greatness

Editor’s note: President Ronald Reagan was calved connected February 6, 1911. The pursuing effort is excerpted from "Making Reagan."

Shooting a movie during a pandemic is genuinely a surreal acquisition similar nary other. Part of the amusive of making a movie is the joyousness of being together—of going to restaurants and section haunts and mostly hanging retired with formed and crew. 

When I archetypal landed successful Guthrie, Oklahoma, I went consecutive to our COVID Coordinator, Emily O’Banion, and asked her what the rules were for my enactment there. The speech went similar this:

"Can I spell to a restaurant?"

"No."

"What astir Walmart?"

THE REAGAN MOVIE IS A TIMELY REMINDER OF WHY LEADERSHIP MATTERS

"That’s perfectly the astir unsafe spot of all."

"How americium I expected to eat?" I asked.

She conscionable stared astatine me.

Eventually, we made a plan, and Walmart groceries were delivered to my doorway daily. We were surviving successful a rental—my 92- year-old mother, my wife, my kids, a caregiver, and an assistant. While I was off astatine work, the kids were doing Zoom school, and we were trying hard to marque mean retired of chaos. 

There were plentifulness of signs astir describing the benignant of municipality Guthrie erstwhile was: tons of pubs, references to it being a spot of refuge during Prohibition. As I walked, I came upon our assassination scene. The Washington Hilton edifice wall adjacent the spot wherever Reagan astir mislaid his beingness was perfectly re-created by our plan team. The adjacent day, Dennis Quaid, who was starring astatine the 40th president, was successful beforehand of the partition reenacting the astonishing infinitesimal and we were off to the races.

I WORKED FOR RONALD REAGAN AND I LOVE HOW LIBERAL CRITICS ARE UPSET ABOUT THE NEW MOVIE

Dennis had a agelong time that began with that country and past moved to a assortment of pickups, including a speech with his aging parent Nelle, who was played by an aged person of mine, Jennifer O’Neill. The country was a beauteous 1 that recovered 40-year-old Reagan telling his ma helium was washed up, divorced, and feeling lost.

As Dennis and I discussed this scene, helium said helium wanted to alteration immoderate of the lines. I asked him if helium had a akin speech with his ma and helium rapidly said yes, astir the clip helium and Meg Ryan were getting a divorce. "Let’s conscionable riff disconnected that," I told him, and helium did truthful brilliantly, telling Jennifer’s quality Nelle that helium hasn’t lived a cleanable beingness successful Hollywood and that possibly helium can’t bash the large things she told him helium was going to bash someday. 

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After we were shut down by COVID for a 2nd clip the erstwhile autumn and we had finished our sprout and returned to L.A., I felt sometimes arsenic though I had PTSD. But present I was looking guardant to finishing strong.

We moved connected to the last country of the nighttime and Dennis’s past of our shoot, erstwhile Reagan was successful Las Vegas. This was the infinitesimal erstwhile Reagan was astatine the extremity of his rope, smoking a cigaret and drinking a beer, arsenic voices from his promising past swirled astir successful his head. The country culminated with him throwing the brew vessel against a partition backstage astatine the amusement helium was forced to execute to wage his mortgage. It was a country we had crafted carefully.

I had called up his aged person Pat Boone and asked him: If Reagan was down and retired successful Vegas, however debased could helium go? Would helium person reached for the bottle? Would helium person thrown it successful anger? 

I had posed the aforesaid question to a Reagan biographer who had assured maine that Reagan would person done nary specified happening and that Reagan had specifically said of the Vegas amusement that it was difficult but inactive portion of God’s program for him. 

Pat would person nary of it, and we went with his note. Even if Reagan aboriginal saw it arsenic portion of the Divine Plan, successful the infinitesimal it would person been a immense disappointment, and yes, helium mightiness person taken a portion and mislaid his cool. 

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So that’s however we played it. 

It was adjacent midnight erstwhile we finished, and arsenic Dennis walked down the stairs, we hugged 1 past time. We had been connected a long, arduous journey, done countless peaks and valleys, and present we were astir finished.