When it comes to casting actors to play non-fiction characters, the decisions can quite often be a bit controversial — especially when they’re caricatures for a comedy!
Well it seems that Will Ferrell has joined the list of WTF castings, as it’s been announced that the Saturday Night Live alum will be starring as former President Ronald Reagan in an upcoming comedy!
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The film is simply titled Reagan and follows the former POTUS at the beginning of his second term as he falls into dementia. Wackiness ensues when an intern is given the job of convincing Reagan that he is an actor playing the president in a movie.
While it sounds like a pretty silly idea, we can also see how those that are affected by dementia or people who may have known the President personally might be offended.
Not surprisingly, that’s exactly what happened as Ronald’s son Michael Reagan took to Twitter to vent his frustration about the flick saying:
What an Outrag….Alzheimers is not joke…It kills..You should be ashamed all of you. https://t.co/GNzqR5vjrX
— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) April 27, 2016
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
Of course, Michael isn’t alone in finding the notion offensive. Others have tweeted:
@foxandfriends I share Michael Reagan’s disgust of Will Farrel’s movie. My mother had dementia, and there is Nothing Funny about it !
— Mark Eilers (@MarkEilers4) April 28, 2016
I’m far from a Reagan fan but dementia isn’t a funny thing to make a movie about… https://t.co/FQoEpBeKHJ
— sam (@movnt_) April 27, 2016
Movie about Reagan & his battle with Dementia during 2nd term. Comedy by Ferrill shows disrespect for a man challenged by horrific disease.
— bill donlon (@donlon_bill) April 28, 2016
Despite some negative views though, Reagan gained a lot of popularity in the last year as the script, which was written by Mike Rosolio, was at the top of the Blacklist — a yearly list of the top unproduced scripts in Hollywood.
Not only that, but a stage reading of the script was also performed by Lena Dunham and John Cho back in March!
What are you thoughts on Ferrell’s casting?!
[Image via AP Images/Andres Otero/WENN.]
