Will Ferrell as Ronald Reagan: So, Alzheimer’s Is Funny Now?

Last updated on: April 29, 2016 at 9:12 am by Kate O'Hare

Will Ferrell as Ronald Reagan: So, Alzheimer’s Is Funny Now? 2016-04-29T09:12:04-08:00 Kate O'Hare

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It’s being widely reported that comic actor Will Ferrell is going to play President Ronald Reagan in an upcoming movie. From Variety:

Sources tell Variety Ferrell is attached to star as President Reagan in the Black List script “Reagan.”

Penned by Mike Rosolio, the story begins at the start of the then-president’s second term when he falls into dementia and an ambitious intern is tasked with convincing the commander-in-chief that he is an actor playing the president in a movie.

The script was so popular following its announcement on the Black List, an annual catalog of the top unproduced scripts in Hollywood, that a live read was done recently done in March starring Lena Dunham and John Cho.

Patti Davis, the rebellious daughter who turned into a loving daughter to her father, who died in 2004, and her mother, who passed away earlier this year, doesn’t find this funny in the least. Here’s an excerpt from her open letter to Ferrell:

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.

Her adopted brother Michael Reagan was not happy either.

Alzheimers is not a comedy!Will Ferrell to play dementia-stricken Ronald Reagan https://t.co/5wdo2PVvHt via the @FoxNews Android app

— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) April 27, 2016

Alzheimers is not a comedy first it robs you then it kills you.#Alzheimers

— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) April 28, 2016

Currently waiting a response from Ferrell.

Image: JellyBelly portraits of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, from the Reagan Presidential Library, Courtesy Kate O’Hare

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April 29, 2016 Will Ferrell Pulls Out of Reagan 'Alzheimer's Comedy'

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