Dennis Quaid is one of the rare actors who doesn’t hide his support for Donald Trump.
Now he’s going where few in the entertainment industry are willing to venture.
And Dennis Quaid gave Hollywood one lesson about Ronald Reagan that left them fuming.
Dennis Quaid says America needs to follow Ronald Reagan’s example
Veteran actor Dennis Quaid is bringing the life of Ronald Reagan to the big screen in the biopic Reagan that’s hitting movie theaters on August 30.
The movie is based on the book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism and tells the story of the 40th President from the perspective of a retired KGB agent who explains to a young Russian how the Soviet Union fell.
It follows Reagan’s life from his boyhood in Illinois through his time in Hollywood to the White House.
Quaid and his fellow co-star Dan Lauria – who plays then-Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (D-MA) – traveled to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to promote the film.
They sat down for an interview with Fox Business where they talked about the lessons of the 40th President.
Quaid – who calls Reagan his favorite President – said there are parallels today to the end of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency.
“These days remind me very much of 1978, ‘79 in the country, with the economy, the Middle East, Iran,” Quaid said. “There was a malaise during the Carter administration that was admitted, and along came Mr. Reagan. And he asked people: Are you better off than you were four years ago? And I think you can ask the same question today.”
Reagan asked voters that question in his lone debate against Carter in the 1980 Election – the week before his landslide victory.
Ronald Reagan had an unusual relationship with Democrat House Speaker
Democrats controlled the House of Representatives from the 1954 Election through the Republican Revolution in 1994.
Reagan had to work with a Democrat House his entire Presidency.
Lauria said that Reagan and O’Neill became friends during his Presidency.
“That’s always the key to getting anything done, even a movie, is being able to work together,” Lauria said. “And Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan, they didn’t really know each other that well before Ronald Reagan became President. But they found a common ground, they worked together, and what I love about it, they actually became friends.”
Quaid pointed out that O’Neill was the second person to Reagan in the hospital after he was shot in 1981.
“Tip O’Neill was, outside of Nancy, Ronald Reagan’s first visitor to the hospital after the assassination attempt on him,” Quaid said. “In fact, I think the first thing he said, as I told people, [was] to keep the Democrats at least 150 yards away.”
Quaid previously said that it was a hard decision to play Reagan, a man he respected and admired.
“I didn’t say no, and I didn’t say yes because, really, fear,” Quaid told Fox News Digital. “Reagan was my favorite President personally, and he was also such a recognizable figure around the world, sort of like Muhammad Ali.”
Dennis Quaid did extensive research about Reagan’s biography and work to bring the 40th President to life on the big screen.
