# Will Ferrell Backs Out of Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Comedy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443 "2016-04-29T19:12:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/1 "2016-04-29T19:12:07Z")
From [The Hollywood Reporter.](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/will-ferrell-backs-ronald-reagan-888799) > [@](#): > > Will Ferrell has backed out of a planned comedy that depicted Ronald Reagan’s dementia. > > The comedian was in talks to play the former president in a political satire that dealt with Reagan’s Alzheimer’s condition, but will no longer be moving forward with the project amid the ensuing controversy. > [@](#): > > The logline for the project, via the Black List, reads: “When Ronald Reagan falls into dementia at the start of his second term, an ambitious intern is tasked with convincing the Commander-In-Chief that he is an actor playing the President in a movie.” I think this was a wise decision. Whatever you think of Reagan, his Alzheimers was no joke and to make it the object of mockery would have been beyond the pale. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/2 "2016-04-29T19:45:25Z")
I remember a running skit on Saturday Night Live that was exactly like this during Reagan’s presidency. Randy Quaid played Reagan, who thought he was indeed shooting a movie with him playing the President. Of course, this was before it became public knowledge that Reagan was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, so there was humor in the satire. Today of course, it would be considered tasteless, although no one is preventing such a movie from being made. I’m glad Ferrell pulled out of it. I always thought he was a pretty decent man. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/3 "2016-04-29T20:01:20Z")
I’m not saying Ferrell has a sterling reputation for high brow work, but I ding him some points for signing on and don’t return them all for backing out. Total dick move. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/4 "2016-04-29T20:09:54Z")
It does seem to be in pretty poor taste. Nothing wrong with mocking a president, but making fun of a guy for having Alzheimers is kinda shitty. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/5 "2016-04-29T20:20:37Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It does seem to be in pretty poor taste. Nothing wrong with mocking a president, but making fun of a guy for having Alzheimers is kinda shitty. But he was a _conservationist_! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/6 "2016-04-29T21:22:15Z")
[Here’s an article with what the script is actually about:](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/will-ferrells-reagan-script-actual-888804) > [@](#): > > It turns out Reagan is actually a good-natured and well-researched comedy that offers an “alternate take” on seismic events in American history — a direct descendent of 1999’s Dick, in which Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams play ditzy teens who unwittingly bring down Richard Nixon. > > \ > > By the end of the film, Reagan’s inner-circle of bumbling baddies get what’s coming to them, and a clueless Reagan gets his hero moment in front of the Brandenburg Gate, as Peggy Noonan — the one female character, she’s painted as his whip-smart, honorable speechwriter — and Frank proudly look on. Dick is a great movie, and I could see Reagan being a good movie if done well, or terrible and offensive if done badly. But it sounds like from the script that Reagan himself isn’t the butt of the joke, it’s more that the people around him and using him are. But I could see that also bother people, including his family, if they think that Reagan was 100% with it during both of his terms and the movie is showing him as not, even if he’s shown sympathetically. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/7 "2016-04-29T22:18:04Z")
I have definitely seen Alzheimers played respectfully and funny. I have been in rooms where caregivers for people with Alzheimers, after the fact, had each other literally hurting from laughter while swapping hysterical war stories. (There are far more sad ones, of course, but the funny ones get you through.) However, I don’t think Ferrell would have been able to give it the depth it required to have worked as anything other than a low brow comedy. He’s made some comedies that I laughed at (and more that I didn’t), but has he done _anything_ to show dramatic talent? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/8 "2016-04-29T22:19:19Z")
Proof number 1,387,967 that liberals are hateful, mean spirited people that anyone would even consider making this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/9 "2016-04-29T22:22:59Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Proof number 1,387,967 that liberals are hateful, mean spirited people that anyone would even consider making this movie. Oh, just wrap yourself in the flag and go to sleep already. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/10 "2016-04-29T22:35:01Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I have definitely seen Alzheimers played respectfully and funny. I have been in rooms where caregivers for people with Alzheimers, after the fact, had each other literally hurting from laughter while swapping hysterical war stories. (There are far more sad ones, of course, but the funny ones get you through.) However, I don’t think Ferrell would have been able to give it the depth it required to have worked as anything other than a low brow comedy. > He’s made some comedies that I laughed at (and more that I didn’t), but has he done _anything_ to show dramatic talent? _Stranger than Fiction_. While it has it’s moments, it’s not really a comedy, and it doesn’t at all revolve around Ferrell playing a clown or an idiot. Great movie, highly recommended. That being said, the film described in the OP could, if done right, be another _Being There_. The odds of it being “done right” have gone up dramatically now that Ferrell isn’t attached to it. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/11 "2016-04-29T22:41:39Z")
Political correctness run amok, right conservatives? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/12 "2016-04-29T22:50:51Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Proof number 1,387,967 that liberals are hateful, mean spirited people that anyone would even consider making this movie. Maybe he’ll see the error of his ways and star in _God’s Not Dead: The Series_. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/13 "2016-04-29T22:52:08Z")
NBC Nightly News was coincidentally airing a report about this project just as I was reading this thread. In the last few seconds the reporter intoned, “Will Ferrell has now said he will not pursue this project.” Which was hilarious since they just spent the last few minutes talking about it, complete with quotes from Reagan’s letter announcing his diagnosis and outrage from his daughter. It was like, they had this juicy story that they were determined to run even though it was now completely irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/14 "2016-04-29T23:16:42Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Political correctness run amok, right conservatives? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/15 "2016-04-30T01:03:23Z")
It really isn’t such a bad concept. But since it’s associated with Mr. Ferrell, it couldn’t come out as anything engaging and thoughtful (think _The Truman Show_), but only tasteless slapstick. On the other hand, if Vonnegut wanted to write that story, then you got something. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/16 "2016-04-30T01:07:12Z")
There is a funny movie to be made about Reagan and the whole “Reaganomics/Strategic Defense Initiative/Iran-Contra Scandal” kerfuffle. However, portraying Reagan’s dementia from undiagnosed Alzheimer’s disease is not it. Really, the clown in the story is Oliver North. There is also a good drama to be made about Reagan’s personal friendship with Michael Gorbachev and how that led to the INF and START treaties, although it probably better focused on Gorbachev and the risks he took in liberalizing the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. There is, however, a fantastic parody waiting to be made about George W. Bush and the machinations behind his presidency while he took vacation after vacation. Unfortunately, David Mamet seems to have given up writing biting political satire. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/17 "2016-04-30T04:52:00Z")
MHO: Will Farrell is not funny under the best of circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/18 "2016-04-30T05:06:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I have definitely seen Alzheimers played respectfully and funny. I have been in rooms where caregivers for people with Alzheimers, after the fact, had each other literally hurting from laughter while swapping hysterical war stories. (There are far more sad ones, of course, but the funny ones get you through.) However, I don’t think Ferrell would have been able to give it the depth it required to have worked as anything other than a low brow comedy. > He’s made some comedies that I laughed at (and more that I didn’t), but has he done _anything_ to show dramatic talent? _Everything Must Go_. Not a comedy at all, and he wasn’t bad in it. Shocked me, actually. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/19 "2016-04-30T05:34:01Z")
I had been saying since the middle of Reagan’s second term that he was probably dead, and they were using a wax dummy, or old footage for his public appearance. The news that he was not all there did not shock me in the slightest. I am fairly certain that his family knew he had Alzheimer’s before his second term was over, and possibly his close aids and cabinet did as well. I think a great fraud was perpetrated on the American people. If Reagan gets raked over the coals for it, so be it. Now, that’s assuming that the project sticks to what a jerk Reagan and his advisors and family were (by the end, Reagan may have been too far gone to be truly complicit, but there was probably some point when he was still mostly lucid that he got the news, and made his own choices). Generic pot shots at Alzheimer’s, or patients other than Reagan, wouldn’t be appropriate. Keep the focus narrow. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443/20 "2016-04-30T14:19:47Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I remember a running skit on Saturday Night Live that was exactly like this during Reagan’s presidency. Randy Quaid played Reagan, who thought he was indeed shooting a movie with him playing the President. I think you’re misremembering the skit. Reagan would appear like a genial grandpa with the public, but each time he was with just staff, he became a sharp commanding presence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-backs-out-of-ronald-reagan-alzheimers-comedy/753443.md?page=2)