If it looked as though the White House had come calling for Will Ferrell, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed those initial reports that the actor and all round funnyman was in line to step into the Oval Office as Ronald Reagan may have, er, escalated quickly.
It’s now understood that Ferrell, who is no stranger to portraying past presidents thanks to his comedy sketches featuring a cartoonish George W. Bush, is no longer pursuing the long-gestating comedy, itself based on a Black List script penned by Mike Rosolio. An official statement from the actor’s representative reads as follows:
“The Reagan script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered,” his spokesface tells THR. “While it is by no means an ‘Alzheimers comedy’ as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project.”
Toeing the line between comedy and heartfelt drama, Rosolio’s account of Ronald Reagan is said to open at “the beginning of the ex-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.”
During its time spent languishing on the brink of development, numerous actors and directors have expressed an interest, while the script was ushered under the lights quite recently when the Black List hosted a live reading featuring James Brolin, John Cho, Lena Dunham and Nathan Fillion. At least for the time being, that’s about as close as we’re going to come to an adaptation of Rosolio’s script.
So, there you have it: Will Ferrell won’t be walking Washington’s corridors of powers as Ronald Reagan anytime soon. On the other hand, one of those other projects that Ferrell’s spokesperson refers to involves Universal’s Uber-themed movie, which was hatched uncannily close to 20th Century Fox’s own plans for an action movie centering on the international taxi firm.
