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CBS Considers Selling 'The Reagans' NewsMax.comCBS is considering selling its $9 million hot potato, “The Reagans,” to Showtime, Newsweek reports. Meanwhile, there appears to be much confusion and frantic activity in the CBS camp.
The controversial mini-series stars -- Judy Davis and James Brolin -- have disappeared from press calls. Director Robert Allan Ackerman has abandoned the editing, while CBS executives are cranking out the final cut.
All this pandemonium stands in stark contrast to those halcyon early days of production when executives thought they had a balanced -- albeit warts-and-all -- portrait of the popular American president. "They all thought it was brilliant," Newsweek quotes someone who worked on the film.
Although the screenplay features the president's purported hands-off approach to governing, Nancy's behind-the-scenes power brokering and the distance from their children, CBS was comfortable that it had cranked out a fair and balanced piece
Then the New York Times story last month caused what the "The Reagans" crew called "Black Tuesday," says the report.
Offsetting the emphasis on Reagan toppling the Soviet Union and the famous, enduring love affair between the couple, the script, according to Newsweek, features vignettes such as this:
President Reagan is lounging in his pajamas trying to watch TV when Nancy starts that old argument again. "Al Haig's got to go," she tells Ron.
"You know what he did when you were in the hospital?" she asks.
"I know he thought he was going to take control, but that's not so bad," Ron says amiably, between bites of an Oreo. Finally, she swoops in front of the president, placing her blood-red nightgown between him and the television, and gets him where it hurts most. "Get rid of Al, Ronnie, or you're never going to end the cold war!" "All right!" he says. "Now get off my goddamn back, will you?"
The media and popular furor after the Times story broke provoked a spate of heavy editing sessions. The line -- where Nancy asks the president to do more for AIDS victims and he replies, "They that live in sin shall die in sin" -- is out. Gone with the wind is also footage of a young Ron Reagan Jr. practicing his ballet. Most of the other cuts come from Nancy's scenes, says Newsweek. "The film version is so milquetoast compared to what her daughter wrote," says Carl Anthony, a producer of the film who once wrote speeches for Nancy. "It's odd to me when people get all worked up, because it's called a dramatization. They forget what that means."
Whether the original cut was milquetoast or not, whether the producer/editors cut deep enough may be academic at this point, opines Jeff Wald, Brolin's manager:
"I had some Republican call me yesterday," "He said, 'You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. He has Alzheimer's and can't defend himself.'”
If CBS unloads the movie on Showtime, the long-term implications of "The Reagans" will certainly continue.
"This is censorship," one source told Newsweek. "A pressure group has had a major network rip this movie to shreds."
Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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