Penelope Ann Miller, Dennis Quaid sought authentic ‘Reagan,’ not a parody

NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) — Penelope Ann Miller and Dennis Quaid say they worked hard to capture the essence of Nancy and Ronald Reagan, not simply mimic the former first couple of the United States, in the new big-screen biopic, Reagan.

Opening in theaters on Friday, the film tracks Ronald Reagan’s journey from his upbringing in Illinois through his multifaceted life as a lifeguard, sports broadcaster, U.S. Army soldier, movie star, Screen Actors Guild president, California governor, and eventually the 40th President of the United States. Reagan passed away in 2004 at the age of 93.

Nancy Reagan, born Nancy Davis, was an actress and Ronald’s cherished second wife. She passed away in 2016 at the age of 94.

“It was a daunting task to take on these really iconic figures,” Miller, 60, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

“We didn’t want to do an impersonation, like a Saturday Night Live skit,” she said. “In characterization, we wanted to make them real and human, flaws and all, multi-layered people.”

Miller—whose credits include Biloxi Blues, Adventures in Babysitting, The Freshman, Chaplin, Carlito’s Way, Riverdale and Dahmer—said she did an enormous amount of research to prepare to play Nancy Reagan.

“I read her autobiography, which I carried around the set, which is all now torn-up and dog-eared, but I wanted to capture her essence, and I feel like I owed it to her—to honor her legacy, good, bad or indifferent,” Miller said. “I wasn’t going to judge her. I was going to be her.”

Quaid, 70, is renowned for his portrayals of historical and cultural figures like aerospace engineer Gordo Cooper in The Right Stuff, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire, Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp, and U.S. President Bill Clinton in The Special Relationship.

“I try to play real people from their point of view, and it’s very important to me,” Quaid said. “It’s a responsibility.”

Quaid also sought to reveal sides of Ronald Reagan that people might not be familiar with.

“Within Reagan, was a very private place that I heard from everyone who knew him. The Great Communicator had this very private wall [that] I think was only opened up with Nancy,” Quaid added.

“She even talked about how it was hard to penetrate his private persona,” Miller chimed in.

Miller believes Nancy’s faith in her husband’s higher purpose helped him steer through challenging geopolitical waters during his presidency in the 1980s.

“He trusted Nancy the most. I think this love story in this movie is really beautiful to watch and to see evolve. As they grew in age, their love just continued to get stronger and stronger, and I think it’s what made him the man he was,” Miller noted.

“She really believed in him and was willing to do whatever she could to [back him up].”

Asked why now is a good time for the film’s release, Quaid laughed and quipped, “It’s an election year!”

Miller said it was “very, very, very strange” that this movie, filmed almost four years ago, is hitting theaters just as former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris are vying for top office in the United States.

“The movie’s not political,” Quaid said, with Miller agreeing, “We didn’t want it to have an agenda.”

“It’s about a man’s life and the love story between [him and his wife],” Quaid added. “But, then again, it comes out now, so, what do I know. There’s a lot of interest in it.”

Miller emphasized the film’s cast had no influence over the release date.

“There’s some people who are like, ‘Perfect timing, perfect timing.’ A lot of people, actually, I’ve heard that from,” she said. “But I think, in a way, maybe it’s just the time that people need to see a story about what it was like in the 1980s.”

The film also portrays Ronald Reagan—originally a Democrat who became a Republican—as a symbol of the era’s values of freedom, confidence, and optimism.

“If you see this movie, you could see and feel what this country was like back then and what it still can be, by the way,” Quaid said.

“People could talk to each other [then],” Miller added.

“They could be on different sides of the aisle, but they would be able to interact and have a dialogue and we have to get back to that,” she said. “It’s so divisive and so negative. Hopefully, people can get back to being able to say your opinion. It’s my opinion, but, at the end of the day, we’re human beings and we care about [each other].”