Ronald Reagan
Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, penned a scathing letter to Will Ferrell, who’s due to portray the former president in a new movie about his Alzheimer’s, saying his plans are “cruel” and that there is “nothing funny” about the disease.
The movie’s currently being shopped to studios. It contains scenes in which a White House intern tries to convince Reagan, in his second term of his presidency, during an onset of dementia, that he is actually an actor who’s playing a role as commander-in-chief.
Davis wrote in her open letter, in part: “Dear Mr. Ferrell, I saw the news bulletin – as did everyone – that you intend to portray my father in the throes of Alzheimer’s for a comedy. … Perhaps you have managed to retain some ignorance about Alzheimer’s and other versions of dementia. Perhaps if you knew more, you would not find the subject humorous. Alzheimer’s doesn’t care if you are president of the United States or a dockworker. It steals what is most precious to a human being – memories, connections, the familiar landmarks of a lifetime that we all come to rely on to hold our place secure in this world and keep us linked to those we have come to know and love.”
Davis recounted how she “watched as fear invaded my father’s eyes – this man who was never afraid of anything.”
She also wrote: “I heard his voice tremble as he stood in the living room and said, ‘I don’t know where I am.’ I watched helplessly as he reached for memories, for words, that were suddenly out of reach and moving farther away.”
Davis said Reagan suffered a long, slow decline for ten years, and the experience was far from humorous.
“Alzheimer’s is the ultimate pirate, pillaging a person’s life and leaving an empty landscape behind,” she wrote. “It sweeps up entire families, forcing everyone to claw their way through overwhelming grief, confusion, helplessness and anger. Perhaps for you comedy you would like to visit some dementia facilities. I have – I did’t find anything comedic there.”
Davis challenged Ferrell to visit dementia patients and look into their eyes, listen to their stories, and then said: “Perhaps you would like to explain to them how this disease is suitable material for a comedy.”
Davis also told Page Six of the New York Post that Ferrell’s movie was over the top in terms of cruelty.
“There’s nothing funny about Alzheimer’s,” she said, the paper reported. “It is terrifying for the families of those who suffer from it. They live with the fear [of] what will change next, they have to live with this terror and grief every day. This movie is cruel, not just to my father but to the millions of people who have the disease, and the millions more who care for them and watch them suffer every day. This is a heartless move by Will Ferrell.”
Reagan died at the age of 93 in 2004.
An individual using the handle @ReaganWorld and named Michael Reagan also expressed outrage with the movie on Twitter.
The person wrote: “#Alzheimers is not a comedy to the 5 million people who are suffering with the [disease], it first robs you of your mind and then it kills you.”
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/reagan-family-furious-at-will-ferrell-for-cruel-movie/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/reagan-family-furious-at-will-ferrell-for-cruel-movie/
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