IR Interview: Penelope Ann Miller & Dennis Quaid For "Reagan" [Showbiz Direct]

The Inside Reel

Actors Penelope Ann Miller & Dennis Quaid talk to The Inside Reel about perspective, approach and perception in regards to their new film: "Reagan" from Showbiz Direct.

Transcript

00:00I am about to start the biggest war of this century and I'm not going to fire a single

00:16shot.

00:17You're going to blow up eight years of diplomacy.

00:18Well, if you think that got their undies they don't want, you just wait.

00:22What did the president know and when did he know it?

00:25What would you have me do?

00:26I want you to fight.

00:33Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

00:45With this couple, I mean, they're a power couple, but they're also both people who supremely

00:51care about each other in terms of how they see the other progressing.

00:55Can you talk about sort of that support system that Nancy and Ronald had with each other?

01:00Well, the movie is really, you know, it is about Ronald Reagan's life from the time he

01:07was five years old and Dixon until they had Alzheimer's and said goodbye to the American

01:11people.

01:12But at its core, the movie is a love story and, you know, what a great relationship could

01:18do for both people.

01:21You know, it makes you, it brings out your best self.

01:27And they certainly did with each other.

01:29And they were best friends and totally devoted to each other.

01:35And it's a great relationship.

01:39I think, you know, Nancy was fiercely protective of Ronnie, she called him Ronnie.

01:45And she really supported him and believed in him.

01:50And I think that's what helped him catapult to this major political figure was because

01:57of that love and because of her support, which can be misinterpreted because she was sort

02:02of vilified during those White House years, she'd cry in her room by herself and had no

02:07idea that people would look at her badly, which was so weird to me.

02:11But, you know, I think there's, you know, and maybe this word's used a lot, but somewhat

02:16of a misogynistic viewpoint of a woman who's behind the man.

02:20And that's considered a bad thing.

02:22And in a way, and not that she was the puppet master or the policymaker, because she wasn't,

02:26but he trusted her.

02:28I think she was not only his best friend, but maybe kind of his only friend.

02:33And I think the same, I mean, you know, granted, Nancy had a lot of friends, but their friendship

02:38and their love was impenetrable.

02:40That's true, I didn't see this.

02:42That's for sure.

02:43There wouldn't have been a President Reagan without Nancy.

03:13What's going on over here?

03:14Yes, it is.

03:15Like we're a million miles from L.A.

03:17Yes, you know, I did my first location shoot here, in fact.

03:21Really?

03:22Yes.

03:23I jumped on the back of that horse, looked around at all this and said, wow, I'm in heaven.

03:29Oh, yeah, it's heaven.

03:33You know, I have a confession to make of my own, Nancy.

03:38I'm what you call damaged goods.

03:42I'm divorced.

03:43I got kids.

03:44I haven't had a decent role in years.

03:47I'm just about broke.

03:50How's that for a come on?

03:54We're all damaged goods, Ronnie.

03:57I know you called them the power couple, but I think, you know, there's things in the movie

04:03that we didn't know that we learned.

04:05And to me, I just think that's what's interesting to see when you watch the movie.

04:11She didn't make any decisions on policy or anything like that.

04:15But it was, you know.

04:17He trusted her.

04:18He talked to her.

04:19She protected him.

04:23And a sounding board.

04:25Yeah.

04:26But it was also there was also the humor.

04:28I'll continue.

04:29But it was also the humor that you see between the two.

04:32But even you, Dennis, like progressing from Hollywood all the way through, he has a consistency

04:38of just charm, humor, and he knows how to offset things still with an immense amount

04:44of strength, which you brought to the role.

04:47Yeah, well, he had all that, you know.

04:49He once even said himself that the greatest role he ever had was president of the United

04:54States.

04:55And that's true to a certain extent, because, you know, when a president really works best,

05:00it's almost as an ad man.

05:02It's it's almost as somebody who is out there representing the United States playing

05:07that role, you know, and to know how to play that role and to play it with conviction

05:13and get your message across, you know, negotiating with the Soviets.

05:19And, you know, that's like a poker game.

05:22There's some acting going on there.

05:24But even his speeches, if you look back on his speeches, he's so eloquent and charming.

05:29Nobody gave a speech like that.

05:32And that's the thing.

05:33I think having that actor experience, knowing how to speak to the public, knowing when to

05:38pause, knowing what your timing is, knowing when you're going to get a laugh.

05:41All that is is really important.

05:43Not that he was, you know, acting like surface.

05:47I think he believed in what his message and I think he cared deeply about America.

05:53And Nancy, in turn, cared so much about him that she was willing to take the backseat.

05:58But I think her protective mechanism, because she was so fiercely protected, made her seem

06:03cold in the loof.

06:04And I didn't find that at all when I read her book and read many, many books and talked

06:08to people.

06:10But she didn't.

06:11She was willing to do that for him.

06:14And I think seeing that partnership was beautiful.

06:17That moment with the goldfish where you go over and write that letter.

06:20It's something so small, but it means so much in the greater concept of it.

06:26You know, so.

06:27And he used to love letters.

06:29He wrote them every day.

06:30So he was the letter guy.

06:32You take the time for because it meant something.

06:36The small things, they mean they add up.

06:39Yes.

06:40To the whole.

06:44I was a lifeguard on a river.

06:50And I learned how to read the currents.

06:56Not just the ones on the surface, but also the ones deep underneath the water.

Category

Transcript

Recommended