Like a lot of young students in 1980, Howard Klausner was a Jimmy Carter guy when the first-term president ran for reelection against challenger Ronald Reagan, the former California governor.
For many, Carter was likable and progressive, making it easy to overlook his long list of failures. “Great man, terrible president,” said Klausner, who worked on Carter’s campaign in his home state of Tennessee.
After Reagan won, Klausner moved on to college. But then, the Gipper was shot and almost killed coming out of a Washington hotel in 1981. His survival and how he handled the episode made Klausner and a generation of young Democrats Reaganites forever.
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“I flipped in college the night he returned for a joint session to Congress after getting shot. I watched that day, I was in school, and I just went, ‘Whatever this is that’s going on, I want to be a part of it,’ and that’s when I said I like Ronald Reagan,” he told Secrets.
Klausner studied cinema and writing at the University of Southern California and eventually became an author, filmmaker, and screenwriter, penning the popular Space Cowboys movie starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner.
Along the way, he remained “intrigued” by Reagan and his defeat of communism and other successes. And about 14 years ago, the call of a lifetime came in. Would he write the screenplay to Reagan? Klausner said, “It has just been a dream.”
In August, after years of fights with Hollywood liberals and funding and distribution delays, even COVID-19, Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid in the lead role, will be released nationally.
“This is the first real attempt at a major motion picture about Ronald Reagan,” Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said. “Reagan was the last astonishingly successful president. Just for the sake of Reagan himself and the sake of history, it’s important to remind people.”
The film shows the life of Reagan, focusing on his defeat of communism.
It also shows his ability to overcome those who didn’t feel he was up to the job of president, even though today, he is considered one of the nation’s best.
The movie is a victory over the liberal bias in Hollywood. It was produced by and stars conservatives who even today have to fight to work. In May, for example, Quaid said he was voting for former President Donald Trump, declaring, “People might call him an a**hole but he’s my a**hole.”
Klausner, who does a pretty good imitation of Reagan, said the anti-conservative bias in Hollywood helped to stretch the making of Reagan to nearly 20 years.
“We tried so hard to make it within the system and say, ‘Hey, everybody, we can get along and do this.’ And finally, we threw in the towel and said we’ve got to do it independently, and we did. And it’s being marketed and released just like a big motion picture, and the response so far has been really good,” Klausner said.
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He said that while some may criticize the timing of the release before Election Day and highlighting strong presidential leadership at a time when both parties are challenged in that category, the movie is meant solely to entertain and maybe educate.
“Everything has its own time,” Klausner said, adding, “The best thing that can happen is that this really succeeds.”
