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Will Ferrell Drops Plan for Reagan Alzheimer’s Comedy
On Wednesday, Variety reported that comedian Will Ferrell would play Ronald Reagan in a new comedy about the former President’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. The plot involved a false narrative in which the President began suffering from dementia at the start of his second term and only made it through because an intern convinced him that he was an actor playing a part.
The script was widely acclaimed in Hollywood and Will Ferrell, most famous for mocking George W. Bush, signed on as the producer and the lead. Needless to say, the backlash was swift and merciless. The Alzheimer’s Association blasted the idea of a movie that would turn the devastating illness into a punch line. Michael Reagan, the President’s son, tweeted that the filmmakers “should be ashamed” because “Alzheimer is not a comedy.” He added that the disease “First robs you of your mind and then it kills you.”
Most impressive was his daughter Patti Davis’s open letter about the movie:
I saw the news bulletin — as did everyone — that you intend to portray my father in the throes of Alzheimer’s for a comedy that you are also producing. Perhaps you have managed to retain some ignorance about Alzheimer’s and other versions of dementia. Perhaps if you knew more, you would not find the subject humorous.
Alzheimer’s doesn’t care if you are President of the United States or a dockworker. It steals what is most precious to a human being — memories, connections, the familiar landmarks of a lifetime that we all come to rely on to hold our place secure in this world and keep us linked to those we have come to know and love. I watched as fear invaded my father’s eyes — this man who was never afraid of anything. I heard his voice tremble as he stood in the living room and said, “I don’t know where I am.” I watched helplessly as he reached for memories, for words, that were suddenly out of reach and moving farther away. For ten long years he drifted — past the memories that marked his life, past all that was familiar…and mercifully, finally past the fear.
There was laughter in those years, but there was never humor.
Alzheimer’s is the ultimate pirate, pillaging a person’s life and leaving an empty landscape behind. It sweeps up entire families, forcing everyone to claw their way through overwhelming grief, confusion, helplessness, and anger. Perhaps for your comedy you would like to visit some dementia facilities. I have — I didn’t find anything comedic there, and my hope would be that if you’re a decent human being, you wouldn’t either.
Twice a week I run a support group called Beyond Alzheimer’s for caregivers and family members of those with Alzheimer’s and dementia. I look into haunted eyes that remind me of my own when my father was ill. I listen to stories of helplessness and loss and am continually moved by the bravery of those who wake up every morning not knowing who their loved one will be that day, or what will be lost. The only certainty with Alzheimer’s is that more will be lost and the disease will always win in the end.
Perhaps you would like to explain to them how this disease is suitable material for a comedy.
Thankfully, Ferrell changed his mind today.
The 48-year-old comic confirmed Friday that while he had seen the script and considered signing on to star in and produce “Reagan,” he was no longer going ahead with the project.
A spokesperson for Will said, “The REAGAN script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered. While it is by no means a ‘Alzheimer’s comedy’ as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project.”
…Davis told us Friday, “I am so relieved that Will has decided against this film. I can’t imagine that anybody else would sign onto it.”
She said after she posted an open letter to Ferrell on her website, “I’ve been deluged with letters and personal stories from people who are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s, and those who have just been diagnosed themselves.It really showed how widespread this disease is and how it just devastates families. It is beyond the pale that anyone would make it a comedy about it.”
Michael tweeted Friday morning, “Thank you for taking the right path.”
As a comedy fan, I think that any subject can be viewed through a comedic filter; a deft writer and performer can empathize with the horror while mining humor out of the terrible situation. If Mel Brooks can make me laugh at Nazis and Team America can have me on the floor over North Korea, I think anything can be fair game. But the more atrocious the subject, the more skill and sensitivity are needed by the satirist.
When my mom was claimed by cancer, there were obviously buckets of tears, but there was also laughter here and there from my family members (probably as a necessary coping mechanism). Humor is one of the ways we process grief; I do it all the time.
However, the proposed Reagan film raised alarms for several reasons. First, despite being an excellent dramatic actor, Ferrell is most famous for over-the-top silliness and a strong anti-Republican sentiment. I laughed along with his hilarious Dubya parody, but I knew Ferrell hated his politics. Also, the fact that the script was based on the deceptive premise that Reagan suffered from the disease in office telegraphed utter contempt for truth and its subject.
The Reagan film and the backlash hits home for me. Dementia is in the midst of claiming my dad. Earlier this month he thought I was his nephew and was confused why I had stopped growing (in his mind, I was still a little kid). Watching a loved one’s memories and reason slowly dissolve in fits and starts is a horror. Despite this, I’m sure that a handful of comedy writers would be able to shed light on the disease, show deep compassion for the subject, and subtly find humor in the depressing situation.
But Ferrell is famous for neither subtlety nor compassion for conservative presidents. I believe he made the right choice.
Published in Entertainment, Politics
Will Feral.
How about Ferrell making a comedy about a red-neck Southern president who can’t keep his pants on? Would that be funny to him?
If you’re going to try make dementia funny, then the worst way to do it is to use a recently towering and much-revered public figure.
A fictional character? Maybe. Still hard to see much funny about dementia.
But, if you must use an historical figure, then wait a couple of centuries (see, e.g., The Madness of King George).
In other news, Ron Reagan had nothing to say . . . for once.
I’m glad they decided to drop this project. The natural assumption is that it was intended to be a low hit piece on Reagan; I doubt they could have managed anything else.
Could Alzheimer’s ever be a good hook for a comedy? I’m not sure how you could plot that one out. It’s about as bad as trying to make a comedy about the Holocaust, no?
But would we laugh if the subject were someone we conservatives despise? What if, instead of Reagan, it was based on Stalin? Would it be okay to laugh then?
It’s no great surprise that this project made it as far as it did. The left has been suggesting for years now that Reagan actually was in the early stages of dementia in his final years in the White House, and they freely speculate that his whole time in office can be seen as the product of mental aberration. I’m sure this is utter bunk, but they keep hinting at it because it gives them one more thing to taint his legacy.
The left likes to destroy memory too.
Stay classy.
I too believe that all subjects should be open to comedy but the combination of star and subject here seemed in poor taste.
More importantly, “Alzheimer’s doesn’t care if you are” Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal.
It is just not a funny topic. Losing your memories is a tragedy of the highest order. Having someone you love go through it is a tragedy.
I am trying to conceive where the humor is.
The fact that the announcement went out and then was walked away from indicates Ferrill is a villian of the highest order.
I never thought Will Ferrell was funny, but I never thought he was a sociopath either. That he or anyone would even consider a film like this, that he had to be told that it was in poor taste, can only be explained that way.
Maybe something with the feel of Being There, a gentle sort of humor. And to make it work, he would have to be successful, not bumbling, which would probably take all the fun out of it for Will Ferrell. Not to mention, making him wrong for the role.
It could be done. Comedic characters and situations can play off deadly serious subjects without needing to be anything but silly.
Nothing is more serious than war. John Cleese spoke on a Monty Python anniversary about the first American showing of The Holy Grail. It was during the Vietnam era. During the scene when King Arthur hacks up the Black Knight, at first the audience was silent… seemingly afraid to laugh. But “after the third or fourth limb” people realized that it was okay to laugh at something so plainly silly and loosely reflective of reality.
“Why is the scene funny?” Cleese mused. “The absence of pain” he answered.
I watched my grandpa die of Alzheimer’s and I’ve read that it’s genetic. But I can imagine writing a comic tale in loose reference, such as about the time Grandpa absent-mindedly pissed on Grandma’s new rug (and she never knew, though she was within sight of the incident).
Well written, Jon. My prayers for your family.
Jon, I send blessings for your dad, and hope that doctors can help his condition. And strength for you and your family.
Good on Ferrell for bailing, but the alarming fact is that before this show got to his agent it had to have made it through numerous people who thought it was a great idea. That tells you something about the moral bankruptcy of Hollywood.
And that he was open to producing it before he encountered the push back. Feral.
As my mom began her rocket-speed slide into dementia, my brothers and sisters and I definitely had a few yucks.
And then it was if you didn’t laugh you’d cry.
And then you just cry.
Will Ferrell is one of the reasons Funny or Die! is mostly die.
Agree.
The left don’t consider conservatives to be human.
Wish I could forget Anchorman 2.
Jon, prayers for your Father and family.
Huh, so should I drop the screenplay about an Akansas former Governor and President who has a series of hilarious escapades due to his progressive Neurosyphilis? It’s a real knee slapper…..
Before we start tut-tutting Hollywood being amoral cash whores – because that’s what they are – they are trying to turn a buck. They tell and sell stories. That’s it. Some are good. Some are not. Some are awful.
But it is a market they’re trying to find gold in. Like any good capitalist. That there’s a market for stuff that might paint Reagan in a bad light (and I say “might” because hey, I didn’t read the script) should shock exactly zero people on this site.
Lots of movies get put into development but go nowhere. This sounds like one of them. Consider how many bad movies get made – those are the ones that actually made it out of the swamp of tens of thousands of even worse scripts than the ones that got made.
Just because ideas get tossed at the wall doesn’t mean they’re going to stick, regardless of public knowledge about them or not. Or whether or not they’re obscene in terms of the subject matter. Which is what this one sounded like.
I also think any subject can be made into comedy. But the goal of this movie was to be left-wing propaganda.
Generally a comedy is made about a real-life political figure when a majority of people believe that person is/was evil or an idiot. We don’t clown around with our heroes. Hitler is constantly lampooned. Churchill or Lincoln never, unless in an endearing way.
What Will Ferell is trying to do here is tell us (and teach the younger generation) that Reagan was a bad/stupid man. But of course that runs counter to how fondly a lot people remember Reagan. Will Ferrell and Hollywood have demonstrated massive arrogance in assuming everyone hates Reagan as much as they do. And the open contempt the elite continue to hold for the ordinary masses who loved Reagan is just beyond belief. It was most evident at his funeral 12 years ago, where the popular turnout to farewell him was in sharp contrast to the aloof journalists and celebrities who had to make obituaries for him and pretend like they liked him and understood his appeal. Maybe the elites still resent that and are trying to even the score.
The war on Reagan will never end. Meanwhile Obama continues to evade any form of satire.
I thought Trump had made it okay to mock disabled people. Isn’t that what alpha males do these days?
Apparently Lena Dunham was interested in reading for a part. It’s unclear if it was the part of Hellen Thomas or George Schultz.
In theory, you’re correct. But the reality is there were more than a few “anti-Bush”, movies that did get made that were bombs. And yet the movies kept coming. So it’s safe to assume that Hollywood is not always truly capitalist, and considers its agenda more important than a profit.
This idea was so funny…for three seconds. Four if you’re a Democrat. I really can understand why Liberals would be so angry at him for wanting to support the people in taking back their own government. It’s so sad that Liberals all think they have a sense of humor. Until they open their mouths and dispel all such notions.
Re-reading the post, I am struggling to maintain a dry eye.
I believe Mr. Ferrell made a prudent decision to pass on this project. It might even have been both a human and a humane decision.
Maureen Reagan and Annefy, I think you have summed up the bumpy, dark humor that weaves in and out of an ultimately tragic process.
Prayers for all you who are dealing with dementia and other tragedies.
Ferrell has dropped out of the Reagan film and will now turn to making “Chappaquickie” – a sex comedy about everything that goes hilariously wrong on Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne’s first date.
The Reagan children didn’t appeal to their father’s office or party, they appealed to the humanity of the situation. It’s nice how the old man rubbed off on them. I’m hard-pressed to imagine laughter or entertainment in the policy hi-jinks that arose from Idi Amin’s syphilis, or Mao’s multiple lung and heart aliments, regardless of the premise.