By Francesca Pollio Fenton
CNA Staff, August 24, 2024 / 04:30 am
The first feature-length film about the life of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, will be released in theaters on August 30. The biopic “Reagan” stars Dennis Quaid in the lead role, and Catholic actor David Henrie plays the youthful Reagan.
Set during the Cold War, the story follows Reagan’s journey from his childhood in Dixon, Illinois, to the White House. The film chronicles the many adversities Reagan overcame and the support his wife Nancy offered him along the way.
Henrie spoke to CNA about his role in the film, the impact Reagan had on him as a believer, and why he thinks Catholics should see the film.
Born in 1989, at the end of Reagan’s second term as president, Henrie did not live to see Reagan’s presidency, but when he began talking to friends and family about the role of president, he was surprised by how many stories others close to him had to share about the 40th president.
“It was really interesting for me to see the reactions on people’s faces when I approached the role in front of family and friends,” he said. “People immediately started telling stories about him and how he touched their lives in a personal way, even if they had never met him. He made such a big impact on them.”
“As someone who literally has no living memory of it, meeting people who had this profound experience with him has shown me the depth and breadth of his influence,” he added.
Another aspect of Reagan’s life that struck Henrie was the fact that Reagan was an alcoholic.
“That made me realize a lot when I studied him, because that has a huge impact on everyone,” Henrie stressed. “You can take it in different ways when you’re a child in that environment and he’s decided to turn it into a superpower – a source of empathy, compassion, understanding and mutual suffering.”
Henrie also described Reagan’s “superpower” as his “deep understanding and desire to help and fix the world around him,” saying that this, along with his upbringing, “shaped his faith and informed much of his life.”
The actor emphasized that a look at Reagan’s life path up to his presidency shows “that with God, anything is possible.”
“The fact that he went from being a lifeguard to being a radio host to being an actor to being a governor to being the chairman of the Screen Actors Guild and finally to being president – you literally have to believe in God because it seems impossible.”
Henrie hopes viewers take away this: “If you are faithful to the life God gives you and know that with Him anything is possible, you can achieve so much.”
He added that many Catholics would immediately remember Reagan’s relationship with Pope John Paul II and the “common and shared goals” the two worked toward that “changed the world.”
Henrie believes the film will be a good reminder of “what can be achieved in Christ and what unites and does not necessarily divide.”
Francesca is a social media manager at the Catholic News Agency. She graduated from the University of Colorado – Denver with a degree in communications with a concentration in digital media.
