funding for this program was provided by the national institute of justice. this program was produced the police foundation, which is ladies and, gentlemen, please

welcome dennis quaid. amanda mcginty will wallace and julia. good evening. welcome to the ronald reagan presidential foundation and institute. my name is david trulio and. it is my privilege to serve as president, ceo of this foundation. we begin all of our official programing, the pledge of allegiance. so i ask that you please and join me in honoring our flag and all those who serve under it. i pledge to the flag of the united states of america and to

the republic for, which it stands one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. before we go further, there are a few people in the audience i would like to recognize former u.s. representative gallegly and his wife, janice. internationally known award winning journalist, producer, new york times, best selling and fox news contributor and editorial advisor raymond arroyo. has. producer of the reagan movie mark joseph joseph.

director of the reagan movie sean mcnamara and his son seamus, who has a birthday today. let's give a hand to seamus. moore. broadly, there are several members of the reagan movies cast and crew in the audience. let's give them all a big hand of a. we are in for a very special evening from small town roots to the glitter of hollywood and then on to commanding the world. the reagan movie is a cinematic journey of a man overcoming the odds exercise. tremendous leadership and achieving remarkable results. america's 40th president. the story told through the voice of victor petrovich, a former kgb agent whose life becomes inextricably linked with ronald reagan's. when reagan first caught the soviets attention. as an actor in hollywood, the

movie was not reagan foundation project. however, we are really excited to have a converse with members of the cast and play a handful of clips from the film. in a moment we're going to be joined on stage by the following four cast members. i ask that you please hold your applause until they join us on stage. so first, of course, is dennis an emmy and two time golden globe nominee known for his roles in movies such as the rookie the day after tomorrow, the parent trap and many many more. a household. his work has spanned multiple generations of beloved films. in addition to acting, is also a musician releasing albums, and he is currently promoting a new gospel album titled fallen, a gospel record for sinners and since we're all sinners, it's an album for everybody. there we go. dennis said that playing ronald

reagan was one of the greatest honors his life and he was inspired, by the many parallels each of each of them had in their lives. next, ilia basken attended moscow's prestigious theater and variety college and has built a considerable career in tv and film. he also a regular on the long running internet program outlaw radio, where he makes amusing commentary on contemporary topics. next amanda righetti, moved to los angeles at age 18 and a year later was cast. the hit the o.c. when warner brothers and peter roth recognized her talent after being part of the o.c. success righetti is known for television and film roles, including in north shore, the mentalist, chicago fire and captain america, the first avenger. and then have will wallace who has acted in, produced, written and directed numerous award winning films, including the thin red line i am sam rules of

engagement and broke sky, for which he received a best actor nominated run from san fran indie, which will also played roles on such shows as beverly hills 90 210 and baywatch. pretty cool. so with that, i ask you to join me in warmly welcoming to the stage the cast members of the reagan movie. welcome. you're right about. abc. well i'm going to i'm going to start with. of course. and dennis, you said publicly years ago that ronald reagan was your favorite president. so how you come to that assessment and what drew you to the role of playing ronald reagan?

i was aware ronald reagan from when i was driving down to from houston as a boy and my dad was listening to the speech on the on the radio and he was pounding the dash and said, garani, yeah, yeah. and that was as first politically, i also remember him from selling barack. so soap on death valley days and g.e. theater and but when it came time to to vote, i voted for ronald reagan. i went home in los angeles. my roommate said. who'd you vote for? i said reagan. he said, are kicked out of the hippies. so i turned in my hippie card, which i never really had had. he was my favorite president.

you mentioned in the speech. that's a reference, i assume, to the 1964 time for choosing speech. that was this breakout speech that had him really burst out onto the political scene. so you were just randomly in the car, your dad listening to the radio. yep. wow. that was it. i mean, that kind of my introduction to the political, you know, about. yeah, i could see how he inspired my dad and my my dad was reagan was his hero. and i remember even in talking with him, i think it was in 72 and he was saying we need ronald reagan and he was right. he was an early adopter. right. yes, i can tell you. oh, yeah. all the way. so is maybe because of that and, this these formative experiences relatively early in your life that caused you to say a a few years ago, you said publicly

that a shiver of fear went up your spine at the prospect playing ronald reagan, but you're really actor. you actually played bill clinton in a movie prior to that. so this is not new territory for you. but why did you have a shiver of fear? well, because he was my favorite president and, you know, i there's a lot of things i felt unworthy. i felt like, why anybody want me to play reagan? i don't really look like him. sound like him and that. and he's really what it is, you know, he's like muhammad ali, he's known all over the world. and so everybody's got a pigeon of him. so it's probably fear of being judged, too, and all that, which is still, by the way, but but it usually that shiver of fear of it goes up my spine. it's usually a sign that i should do that because. it's out of my comfort zone and

so took me a while to say yes, but i went to the reagan ranch and drove up that five miles of the worst road, california, and got up on top. and soon as i came out onto the clearing there, i felt like, yeah, i could feel him as a as a human being and what he was, you, i felt, is he was a humble person, wasn't a rich person. and i could just feel him and all his work up there. and so i said yes. so. so how did you approach the physical transformation or essentially. i had the privilege of seeing an advanced the film you're playing ronald reagan from the time he's in his mid-thirties until he's well into his 70. so how do you as an actor, how do you approach? well, i was lucky that i had a year that turned into two before we shot the movie.

and of covid or. yes, because of covid. and, you know, just a number of getting things together to to do it. i mean, mark had joseph, was it 29? you'd been trying to get it together for that? so it was a long journey and i went to youtube is so great in it for birth. yeah. particular research like that, you know everything is available to you as far as the extras. are. you know how he talks walks and and that you know footage going back to his time in the movies the senate subcommittee and you know his voice of course is, you know, high. and like all of us when he was young, so i had to work on the voice over that period of time and then map out the transitions. then he had a crooked smile. and so it's where does that come from? and i work from the outside, but it was really about.

feeling him. i'm never going to get away. i'm still going to quit playing ronald reagan and the like. we never get away from ourselves. but he actually i didn't want to connect in a way, as as an idol. i wanted as a human to what makes people tick. that's that's the question. well, it must be someone of your acting stature have had a real challenge trying to capture some of those iconic lines. right. so there's there's one clip i'd like to play, probably the most famous line of ronald reagan we'd love to hear. yeah. and by the way, just changed it yesterday in our air search because. i wanted to get it more like the way he said it. okay, great. so we're going to show everybody here is getting real inside information. let's go to the team in the back, play clip number six. and then after that, we'll invite dennis comment.

general secretary gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek liberal legislation and change, come here to this day, mr. gorbachev, open this. you see. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. right. wow, that. yeah. one of the advantages was that i'd lived through all of it, and that's the way of those times,

the great times, you know, inspiring times and what reagan did, really, for all of along with all of us, he was the voice of the american people. i think. wow. i want to bring will here. and one of and to a very early part of the reagan presidency and a very consequential moment and invites some commentary but to the team in the back. let's go ahead and play clip number one. that mr. president the aircraft, the controllers are threatening a strike. well, they do that. no, sir. legally essential public service. they have all signed a no strike contract. a contract is a contract. that's the way i learned it. they forfeited their jobs.

so so this is a very significant moment in the reagan presidency. and it comes very early on. so will i invite you to and then we'll kick it around? yeah, i such a powerful moment and i believe we're is this august third, 1981, 81. yeah. and we i just think that just even be a part of that. i was fortunate enough marc joseph was a was able to set up some time for me to zoom during covid with mr. me so got to meet him via zoom and kind of see his insight and i think just to be i mean when reagan you know i it's i guess for who may not know the full context. president reagan fired the air traffic controllers who had gone on strike and and will's character, ed meese, who was subsequent became attorney general.

but at the was as a key longstanding adviser to president reagan. he's explaining to the president the momentous nature of this decision. yes. and and so you get deliver that. so you're you're in touch with. the actual ed meese. yes. the first real test of his presidency, i think, you know about how tough he's going to be. in fact, it it affected the soviets. absolutely. that they were. well, he just shut down all the airspace. the united states. and what will he do to if he does that to his own people and? yeah. further to your point, he ronald reagan was not only a union member, but a former union president. right. so it sent this profound signal of how tough he was. yeah really amazing. well, contracts, contract. that's. well, i do want to we'll switch gears. and so let's let's a little bit about the young ronald reagan and and mother his mother,

nellie reagan and i'd invite you to to just what was it like preparing to be ronald reagan's mom. they're really big to fill, but there wasn't a lot about nellie to in terms of like i think for dennis, there was plenty on youtube to search for ronald reagan and be able to embody a physical attribute and then work from the outside in. for nellie, there wasn't, that kind of she died in 1962. she was not public figure, correct. so most of my research and of the things that i found out about her were from reagan's hand was reading his autobiography and some that were written about reagan that his mother sort of found her way into the stories, god and ronald reagan actually was the the most

poignant part of the research, because that was the most and most information her and also really the impact that she had on his life and what she instilled in him as a young boy. he really carried with him for his his life. so so what were of those things? what did you start out with essentially a blank slate that you're going to learn about ellie reagan? did you learn about her and what what was. well, what came of that? i that she was the youngest of seven children. her passed when she was 17 and and and her father had a sort of very strange relationship. and she fell into the arms of jack reagan. and he was a catholic. she was a protestant which was a big no no back then. and but she sort of she stuck with her protestant roots and raised her children and the faith of god and really led them with that strong and a very

strong moral. you know, i think she dove into the church world. i don't know if it was a way to escape the hardships of her own life, but, you know, she survived the influenza of 1918, she almost died. and her faith in god really grew strong and was something that she profoundly put upon her children and raised her children with that goodness. i do want to come to the faith element which is very, very significant in just a moment. but before that, let's clip number three and invite you to tell us what that says about nelly, what she's trying to instill on on a young ronald reagan, dutch reagan. so play clip number three, please. let the boy that's been threatening you every day.

he'll be there tomorrow to. that's what bullies do until you stand up to them it's time for you to settle this dutch on. so tell us about that scene amanda what's going on how did you approach it? what what was what was embellishment or what was in the historical record? so the reagans moved a lot and dutch got picked on a lot and he was bullied quite and i think it got to a point in his that he was old enough to to grow a backbone and. she really sort of helped kick

him over that. and get to that place where he needed to stand up to the bullies in his life that coming up against him and giving him a hard time. so i, i don't know it's it's a tricky scene it's a it's a it's a funny to walk. you know it's it's it's in love. but it's also little bit ruthless. so i think, you know, my approach was she was a very loving mother. and so i wanted it to still have it come from a place of love, not from a place of do this or else. historically, i don't really know what. it was we just sort of filled in the spaces that we could based on what we knew. well, one part we know very well was profound nature of her faith. and i'd like to actually then in a moment go to a clip. number two, where alia's character features prominently, but both you, amanda and alia so

let's let's go to clip number two and then i'll invite and amanda to comment working. but i finally traced his disdain for communism it's hell on earth people are frightened, hungry, divided back to when the dissident of our country visited his church state runs and controls everything to the smallest detail in your speech, your actions, even your thoughts. you know what they took from us first thing. god church knew this you will not find it in soviet union. they closed down most of them and clergy. many are dead or disappeared. americans should know about the communism because coming here freedom is only once reach in a way through an extension. and just like that, the seeds

planted. so, amanda, tell what is what is nelly reagan doing? and then, ilya, tell us the nature of the character you're portraying there. nelly is exposing reagan to soviet communism. i think ultimately the crux it and i think back then soviet communism was the big right. and i think reagan his a lot of his presidency was fighting soviet communism and the darkness that about with a the character that is visiting the church at that time reminds ilia tell us about kirtzman and tell us who you're portraying there and why it matters so much. oh, it's it's actually happening

right now in this country. what's the the misinformation that goes around? and when the real people speak out, when people tell the truth, university and most of the left wing organizations, they just don't want to deal with those people. they they don't listen to them. and that's what my character in this movie was trying to explain to his audience in the situation were young ronald reagan for the first time heard that soviet union was not the paradise that a couple of famous people people were telling americans. and not only americans and western ears, there was a group of right whose that went to the soviet by invitation of joseph

stalin. it was herbert wells. a romance roland faked thunder did very very known writers and they were treated it was like like they were kings with royalty. they were shown potomac in villages. i don't know if you know what it is it's it's during the czar time the general potemkin inspecting how peasants and they lived lives but to show the general that lived they build special village wherever was just marvelous and everybody only dream about life like that and so that's where the potomac in the village comes. so how it started when it he invited those writers treated them and then when they came back they started saying writing

that the soviet union is a paranoid guys that everybody is working classes and everybody has they need and and the workers paradise is a workers party workers paradise. all right. so ilya, you up in what was then the soviet union and latvia, which is now a free country at the time was it was the part of the soviet. and when did you come to the united? and what was your perception of presidents generally and ronald reagan specifically? it's a good question because i came here in 1976, by the end of the fall administration and then the next president, jimmy carter, after a couple of years living under jimmy carter, i started wonder, did i do the right thing. but then came ronald reagan and

it was just knew that that was the right thing. well well, i want to i want to pose to all of you. as as each of you prepared for these your respective roles what what, if anything, surprised you or what did you learn, dennis? i mean, you were very with ronald reagan. you grew up with him. but but as you went really deep, what surprised you what did you learn that cut you off guard so much? i mean, that i mean, just in that clip right there just brought a lot of the other whole thing. freedom is just a generation away from extinct. i always kind of. yeah, yeah. to that until. and it's it's true how we to really guard and hold precious

all these gifts that we've from our our for our fathers because we can lose them and that's very real. the other reagan was fighting communism very early on from his you know he was an actor who became vice president, then president of, the screen actors guild. and he was fighting there in the screen actors guild in the film, very compellingly conveys that. yes. yeah. they were trying to take the gills then the unions for everybody that thought. that was a big their wives after the soviet union fell they found all the files of course that was exactly as they said. and it was dedicated to that at a time when our country, you

know, we're we want to be friends with, everybody and we think that, you know yes. you make a promise and you keep it. and we expect the whole though the whole world is us that they grow up like us, they don't have the freedoms of us. and we pleased and appeased and appeased the soviet union for every just about every presidency that i remember in my lifetime. and reagan was the first to come along and say and so, so many people were afraid, oh, well, we don't want to make them and everything because, you know, they're going to attack us. but it's it took it took a warrior like ronald to win the cold war because they respect that. and at the same time, you're portrayed also conveys that he was happy warrior but he wasn't

a an angry abrasive he had a sunny disposition. he liked people bitter and they liked and you know, it doesn't take a genius to to figure that that way of life that was the people you most of the world was living under really and it thank god for him, his idea that he formed even before his presidency was to bankrupt them. that would be the way to bring down the soviet union. and it turned out to be right. yeah. the star wars. that's what made them bankrupt, right? yeah. the strategic defense initiative. and there's a whole special exhibition here at the reagan library right now about that. so i encourage you to all visit business. as part of the the the the on

that you raise about engaging with people think also has is reflective of the broader i think implication of the movie that there's tremendous resonance for today. and in a moment i want to go to clip number five but there are many parallels between the late seventies, early eighties and today one of them is how divided we are a country and how contentious it is. but let's play clip number five. that is tip o'neill and ronald reagan meet for the first time and then i'll invite dennis to comment on that. gents, take it away. mr. mr. president, i congratulate welcome to the bigs. now you enjoy tonight because we go to work. well, i've been well briefed on you, tip. i've been told i better get a pretty good head start. that's very irish heavy. yes. you plan going ten rounds every day. that's how we do things here.

all right. just remember every day has a 6 p.m. what do you mean by that? well, after six, we're not political. we're just two irishmen having a beer deal, a side. so us a little bit more about that. what what went into the scene and what did your research tell you about that? that scene actually really happened? and it became where tip was over at the white house, a lot more than he had to be because they were friends. they would yell in advance, you know, try to figure out some kind of compromise wise and come closer to each other that then it's got to be my way. or the highway compromise is what america built on. and reagan had a great way of saying he would say just because he disagreed with me. about 20% of this issue, that doesn't make him a that he's not

a 20% enemy. he's an 80% friend. and they had a way of of common i mean, it emblematic of the way i wish we could like and we still can be at to get back to working together as americans and well said well. it's important to know that ronald reagan never had both houses of congress and the republican camp. so pass anything he had to bring democrats on board and he and tip o'neill would would duke it out. but the end of the day, there were major legislative victories that that required democrats coming along. yeah tip o'neill was also, besides nancy, the first person to visit in the hospital. well, let's let's go to that that's our last clip of your

left number four. and then we'll invite you to comment on that clip. number four, please play. he'll do anything to get that -- tax cut. i left specific orders. no democrats within 100 yards, you'll have grin and bear it. how you doing that? well, i don't recommend getting shot no you to think there's. there is a reason for all of this. there's a big job left to be done. whatever time. i have left it belongs to him and he the way i walk through the valley of the shadow of death. i shall see no evil for thou art with me surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. and i loved one the house, the lord forever.

so again for those who may not have the context, this is in the immediate aftermath of president reagan being shot less than 80 days into his presidency. so tell us a little bit about more that scene and all. i mean, there's so in there, like i said he was the first person to come visit him in the house, in the hospital and there they prayed together. there and democrat and republican, democrat protestant and catholic. yeah, exactly. and they they worked together, you know, would after reagan got shot, he really did believe that, you know, his life was no longer own. that was it was god's purpose, him. that was what he was going work for, that and that's what he

did. and they you know, chapel hill really ranked him over the coals, over iran-contra and other things. they were really bitter political enemies, but they kept an open mind about each other that. 10%, 20% of of an open mind that you could learn from other one or maybe a little bit of good idea. you know, there's a big saying that reagan used to say you can get a lot done in washington if you don't care who gets credit, who who gets credit for it. and i think they worked that way as well. we actually have a plaque in the gift shop, has that quote and let's switch it up a little bit, maybe some light hearted kind of filming the movie. anything that amanda will. i mean, just what was your experience like doing a very serious historical film like this? i feel like it was in a completely separate movie

because all my stuff was in the twenties and thirties. so we had all the model ts and everything was the costumes and everything. well, i mean, i guess you guys were all, your costumes were period piece costumes, but i felt like the stuff that i got to do was really, it was really cool to see all the bold that they brought in and all the old costumes i really enjoyed. that was really fast and furious that i think my portions shot for maybe ten days and where was that ad that was in guthrie, oklahoma, which i don't know, did you guys film all of it? there? no. we came back here and shot little bit in the well at air force one, which was. how cool is that? i had to pinch myself so many times, so again, for context, you actually in the plane that president reagan used as air force one, we maybe 100 or 200 yards from where we're sitting,

right? yeah. doing a scene with nancy penelope ann miller, who is so fantastic in the movie and i'm wearing reagan's actual jacket. and you know it's it's very eerie what a feeling. i mean, i hardly know how to describe that. and then we shot at the reagan ranch and we're doing scenes happened there actual events that happened there and we're standing in the exact place that they happened and doing those scenes that i don't think ron and nancy ever imagined. well, i'm really glad you mentioned penelope ann miller, because been said that one cannot possibly understand ronald reagan and the reagan presidency without understanding the crucial that mrs. nancy reagan played. so how did you, penelope, work out? go deep on that. there wouldn't have been a i don't think there would have been a president ronald reagan without a without nancy. their love stories central to

the movie and it's. central to their their their lives. the the the support and the strength that they drew from their love story. and it was a love story. it truly, truly was. you know, i can't begin to just say enough about it. and he wrote her love notes every day and i think they took their relationship taught me about like what relationships. were an example of someone that like eternal that works that true story you know you can't manufacture that i think she really the two of you had an amazing connection i have to say she was even i don't know if you penelope was sending up christmas cards, you and her merry christmas from the reagan

and she channeled nancy. i mean it was like, wow. even the lunch line she was a channel nazi. you know, but but she was protecting you as when when when nancy was when she was on edwin. i felt the fear of god. she was a she was there. it really made things it really made so much easier. and her performance is incredible. whereas as each of you reflects on the film is there, do any of you care to share particularly favorite scene or something that was particularly fun to shoot or you know, alia or i haven't seen the film. okay, you'll have to stick around. how about it for me? i'm just for reason. the berkeley riots being back in the sixties. that was just really fun day and very memorable. just being able to transport in time. so again, for context, when when ronald reagan was governor yes,

there were very significant campus protests. there. unrest, again, more parallels between that era and this era. and so tell us about this scene where ronald reagan goes. tell us to tell us. well, and i think. that was one of the questions when mark set up the with with mr. meese, i was able to ask. i think he his answers to me, seemed more you remember on the zoom to be answers that that had had the had time to change over the decades. and i asked him if he could to to re answer the question his mindset behind the riots at berkeley back in the late sixties and how it was because hindsight's 20. but he was he was he was gracious and kind of re adapting the answer to his question and and so i would try to internalize that mindset rather than his mindset on it and

whether or not feels responsible for any atrocities based on his decision that he made or not. you know, i would love that same that was one of my favorite scenes. yeah. the berkeley riots and it was the california governor reagan, you know, it was there was something about him then, you know, it would wear brown, wear them so great. yeah. you know his fifties was like the sheriff in town, reagan you know, at at the same time, he such great humor he would disarm people with his with uber that you know the the scene where he walked through the crowd of the student protesters were having a silence and or whatever they've got tape over their mouths or whatever. and he stops at the door. he turns it goes through the beat. it just cracked them all up, made them at themselves, you know, at really it was really

that way. and and not many people had that ability. and the way he was telling jokes, reagan the way he was telling jokes, yeah. just i mean, he was a great performer he always opened with a joke. and i think that the. the other state was the second debate of i will not for political purposes take advantage of my opponent's youth and inexperience and which was you know, it was set up and you could see it coming. and he was such a great actor that and i think he was channeling that he had jack benny. yeah. stole jokes from each other because he did a jack benny. what made that what it made it so funny is that everybody laughed including mondale. you know he's laughing and he

knows also that well this election's over and but reagan said it and it took a little bit then he took the water and sipped the water just a little longer at the moment. a little bit. you know, a little cagey thing to do there. that was definitely jack benny. any other thoughts? i know. i also would say that, sean, you so much to do our director here you just always on top of it. i was amazed you were flying around pulling off miracle every day or two and kudos to you on that. yes. and it really. it is a such a good time, silly thing to to have this movie. now, when the is so divided. yeah. why we were banking. yeah it was like well we don't this to be a political movie you

know the way we thought had how can i definitely did not wanted to come out during an election year. just you know who's going to get lost or is this or that or that. and, you know, it's just to add now it came out and it turns what do i know? because it's the perfect to bring it out. i absolutely it is really a. and it and and again the you could never have predicted this the parallels are just so striking. everything from campus protest to a presidential candidate or i'm sorry, a president or former president getting shot or getting shot at. i mean, it's just it's really striking. so in a moment, we're going to go to audience questions and. a reminder to the audience that questions and in a question mark and and but what i would like to do is maybe a quick lightning round for for any of the cast members who'd to comment short,

short, short, short statement. given that we at the point demographically in this country, about half the population roughly has no memory whatsoever of ronald reagan because they were simply born at a time where they it would have been impossible for them to have a memory of ronald reagan. what do people need to about ronald reagan and would you like them to come away with from seeing the film? well, those born. after 1980, they will have a chance to really see what this country was like and what it can still be. and those of us that were born before 1980 going to have reminder and, i wanted to entertain and inspire people. that's it's for we go to the movies that to see things but to feel things and i hope it's a

uniting thing. ilia and i think he made america great again. and just to underscore or put some context around that, that was a ronald reagan campaign in 1980. you make america great again. yeah and it was, yeah, yeah. i think you summed it up earlier just you were talking about the scene with the with with tip o'neill and president reagan and just democrat. republican, i think there's just a amazing amount of hostility. between the two parties right now. and it's i would love, if anything, for people to remember how it it was those days and to learn from that and and to work

together by issue and not be so hung up on which party you are, what you know and personality, what that means. if you i, i think it's a human story with politics as a backdrop. and what i really appreciated the film is you see reagan as human being that really touches on the love story between and nancy and i just i think there's a element to it that we really see in politics and. it avails us the opportunity to see what it was like for him. and amanda, too, to underscore your point, somebody who watched the film there's a real struggle in his life. you mentioned how they moved around a lot. he came from dad struggled with alcoholism big time. ronald reagan, the actor, had some great times and some not so great times. the movie really, really exposes the audience to that? i think so. he also i think he had a lot of

failures in his life. and it's the story of being able to get back on the horse. and you ride with that that white flag of hope. and i think reagan really offered that right. so let's go to questions we have folks with microphones and we have some hands raised and we're going to go to the fabulous phyllis gorby first, who's sitting in the front to our mike rogers, and then we'll go to dave central next. thank you so much for being here. i really enjoyed the presentation as you all very well aware hollywood would the media and and political parties have really i think edited the division in this i'm wondering if you're expecting or if you've gotten any blowback from hollywood anything that you feel

might occur once the movie comes out. well, i would that i was there were attempts to attempts to cancel me when i was doing the movie. in fact, you know, i don't know if i would say that was, you know, because of reagan at the time, but but i and reagan was reagan was like everybody's dad back then, at least from my boomer generation. he was our dad. and that was for better or for worse, if you're for or, you know, the or didn't want to hear his discipline, whatever, wherever you were in life, you had a back. he was he was kind of like the dad, the nation. and so people very strong

feelings, just like they do about their dad and i find that people there are people out there that still those strong with them there's this overwhelming more great feelings that they're than there are you know, bad memories about him. i think with people in, you know, a lot of those student protesters and people that were, you, you know, drop out the society and, you know, drop in and all that, they in sds, they wound up on wall street and made a whole bunch of money off, you know became the greatest thing in the world. and reagan had a like a slow acting effect on people. he was he grew on him as well. let's go to the back the pro with dave central. okay. well, mike coming right here.

well, first off, congratulations on a just a wonderful movie. wonderful film. so as were studying for your roles, what did you learn about the character you're playing that surprised you the most about them? what surprised me the most was the great communicator. so many people knew him always remarked that there was a prize, that place in reagan that you could not penetrate and that was the challenge for me. playing him actually, is to get to to the human, you know, and that there and you know, i think because he was a great communicator or whatever i think he had to have there was a private place in him that i think had a lot to do with the he had with his mother and and

god and about who he was listening to and it really formed, i think that was it formed the core of who he was there in that silence. i think any other surprises but i was most surprised at the humble beginnings and how economically. like how how the hardships of the reagan family and his father being an alcoholic. those were all aspects of him i didn't i never knew about until the film was presented to me. so i learned a lot about reagan through the process of learning about nellie. there are some remarkable firsts, right? i mean, he was the first president who had been divorced, but he he you know there are

certainly many folks with very privileged. privileged backgrounds who would become president. but he was you know, he grew up with money, was very tight. dad struggled with alcoholism. it was it's and i think the alcoholism also affected the third ability to live. i that's they were moving constantly of the economical hardships on the family and that was really you know i think jack's his contribution to the reagan family know but no he really tried to protect the children. that demon that jack would have to find at the bottom of a bottle. and i think that made them stronger in some ways. but it also taught the kids really valuable lessons let's go all the way in the i see tricia with a microphone so please put a handle.

thank you. born and raised in soviet union. i was a student when the cold was over in this movie. what did you learn about the relationship between the reagan and gorbachev. they you know what? what happened really that. that first meeting started with that first meeting with them had never really happened at before in a summit where i was i was really surprised to learn because i didn't know this before how managed presidents were scripted even scripted and managed it at as far as communicating with another leader you know it's like you had to be or something and.

reagan for the first time invited corbett gorbachev into the next room and thereby the fire and really just to know each other on a very basic level, you know, talking about their mothers how they grown up and you know they saw i think they began to see each other as humans and the human cost of what the nuclear exchange would be and empathy for each side as of the equation and you yeah that that that really surprised me about how a person all right it was and i think it took that in i have to admit in iceland when they got together in iceland we all thought it was there were going to be no more

weapons and there was something was to happen there and i myself when reagan walked out i thought, oh, what? he turned into an old codger or whatever. they got right up to it and he this opportunity. so this is the reykjavik summit. yeah. 1986. and ronald reagan walks out because he not willing to give up the strategic defense, which gorbachev desperately wanted, even offered to share it with them right. reagan took down. yeah, offered to share the technology that didn't exist, by the way, at time. but it was willing to play the play that game, not a game it wasn't a game, but he was he said no to them and that was where he said no and walked out. and the soviets always figured we would cave that we'd appease

and he didn't. and i think didn't know it then, but that was the moment that the cold war was won. you certainly have company in that assessment. that was an absolutely critical, pivotal moment in the cold war. i think we have a question somewhere over here. so there we go. right there. yeah. hello. this has been delightful. an actress who has also been in a political thriller playing mary matalin and i'm having so much fun listening all. and i wanted to ask you i'm actually a ufo person. i know reagan ufos, by the way. and i'm married to a professional astrologer. so i'm very as someone who doesn't fit everyone's box. did you bring up any of more metaphysical or not? those kinds of things in. the film, as far as his ufo sighting or his interest in

astrology, we did bring up the those the the preacher who met with reagan while he was governor and started. they held hands to pray and in a circle and he had a it started to speak in i guess you would call it tongues that he said that you will reside at 1600 pennsylvania avenue and going into kind of trance like state and. so we did deal with that and but it was it i think they were mixed on how to make a big deal about what that was. but i think there were mixed about how they responded to that. so that was in there. there was other things that, you know, that were there that it's not a complete love letter to

reagan. i you know, his response aids at the time that it that it came us was not what it could been but then it was know it was about the times that we were in as well as to that and i think he did come around as well with that and there were is that so it's not a complete love letter. you know, he was a human being and but i do think he was the greatest president of the 20th century. we have time for or two more questions right over here in the front. oh, let's wait for the microphone. there it is. sorry i just wanted to know how you picked a composer i worked in the film business for 30 years and there aren't very many republicans around.

i think you'd be surprised. that i asked and answered who's next right over there on the aisle. thank you very much. i'm a native california. seven years. i remember pat brown and driving around with my father and ronald reagan. if you were alive today, would he be the kind of person he back then championed conservative and trying to get california back the map as a as a common sense state. well he was all about common sense. was he? i think he invented common

sense. yeah. that's what he was all about. what he really came to office because get out that. are you better off than you were four years ago? it's a very simple question. you know, it's it's it's about like don't look behind the curtain over, you know. people could feel it and that's what he tapped into. he tapped into everyday people. and he just appealed to common sense and if you habits common sense, the solutions are not as difficult for a lot of things that we choose to put our focus on. we have a question also near the aisle right over there. hi. have heard from the reagan family and. if so, what did they think about the film. michael? very supportive i haven't seen

him, actually. we we we shot the film and but i you know, i understand from like way back like with mark really sort out family and sort out the library to, you know, to to make sure we got reagan right that out of voice and and to you either because it is very important about the way that he has betrayed wanted to get things historically right emotionally right and because. the truth is a lot mightier it really is. and it's one of the to be authentic more than anything else because reagan was so authentic. dennis, in a moment, i'm going

ask you to tell the audience when and how they can see the film. but as we close, why should somebody who maybe doesn't know much or anything about? ronald reagan, maybe that person lives a blue city or in a blue state. why they see this film? well there were a lot of reagan democrats to get out and. it's, you know. it's kind of funny in a way. after 40 years. really, even like with roosevelt who i consider to be the second greatest president of the 20th century, are really up. i don't really remember politics. you remember the deeds and. you know what? we did all that americans and how we came together and, you know, democrats and republicans were at each other's throats then, you know, bind each

other's backs, you know, doing things, whatever. but you the politics fade. and it's amazing how we make with the ghosts of the past and what we remember is the man and remember story of us and you know, thank god for ronald reagan that he came along. i heard it said one time that you. i heard it said one time that america deserves the president, that they get it reflects what the president what's going on in our society in a way, not the other way around. you know, it's we the people and so that's why this is such an important election.

everybody really needs to really take a side in this election, not be afraid to talk and not able to speak. because if we don't speak up, you know, freedom can be gone in a generation, that's for sure. and we need to by speaking up, we teach our young ones to speak up to not be afraid and how to converse and how to argue and how to work it out and. so republican or democrat, pick a side and vote. and then let's get with it. yeah, that's right. we whether as individual roles or as groups, how do people see the film? well, can see the film starting

august the 30th, right. mark. it's opening a whole of theaters. and i'm hoping that this is going to be the biggest baby boomer movie at the theaters theaters. but i think that's having. to go see the theaters with an audience that have the experience, you know, and you can always watch it on streaming like later. ron, you are the abc of the week. well, well show business a business and and if the business well there'll be more movies like this. well that's the that's the idea anyway but yeah but really it's i go see it and tell your friends about it and don't take my word for it, you know, tell your friends about it because. you yourself have an opinion of

it if you if you like that or not. and i think you will. i'm very proud. it i think we all are and. it's it's been honor of my life and it's become favorite movie i've ever made actually. right stuff was my favorite movie before that. but and. just the honor of of, of being able to, to spend my time just thinking about reagan every day is really the honor of my life. i can't tell you. so thank you, people. thank so much. i can't i can't think of a better note end on so dennis amanda will ilia, thank you so much for spending your time.