Will Reagan Play Self in Brady Movie?

The rumors have been rampant, but the question persists: Will Ronald Reagan go back into the movies?

As Hollywood deals go, a movie role for Reagan is still in the “pre-pre”-development stage, but the most likely candidate for the ex-President’s cinematic comeback appears to be a planned David Puttnam-produced feature based on the published story of former White House press secretary James Brady. He was shot in the head during the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan and has maintained a close friendship with the Reagans ever since.

According to people involved with the movie, Reagan has been asked to appear as himself in the film; he has expressed enthusiasm about the project, and he has made it clear to Puttnam that he would be free to consider the role after leaving office.

“It is my information,” Brady acknowledged on Wednesday, that Reagan will agree to play himself in the still-to-be-filmed movie.

However, Mark Weinberg, spokesman for the Reagans in Los Angeles, said in response: “I am not aware of any plans for him to be in any movies.”

The former President’s name has been bandied about Hollywood’s luncheon haunts for months in advance of his leaving office. For instance, a Los Angeles radio station offered him a $100,000 sports-announcing position. There has even been talk among some show-business Republicans of granting Reagan an honorary Oscar. But, until now, none of the talk has included specifics on any movie.

The proposed film is based on “Thumbs Up,” a book about Brady’s life and recovery, which was written with his cooperation by Maryland author Mollie Dickenson in 1987.

One reason why Reagan might want to appear in the movie is that Brady, whom Reagan kept as the titled White House press secretary throughout his two terms, has a financial interest in the movie as well as the book.

Puttnam optioned the biography last June for his Enigma studios and attached British screenwriter Robert Bolt (“The Mission,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Dr. Zhivago”), Dickenson said Wednesday.

Bolt already has written “a first draft” for the Warner Bros. project, Dickenson said. However, she noted that she has not heard definitively at this point whether Reagan will play himself in the movie.

“That’s something we have been hoping for,” she explained. “If Jim (Brady) really wanted him to do it, Reagan would.”

Last year, Dickenson, Brady, Puttnam and Bolt met with Reagan to discuss the project, Dickenson said. “In our audience with Reagan, David (Puttnam) said, ‘Maybe you would play yourself in the movie?’ and Reagan responded, ‘Well, I’ll soon be at liberty to do things like that.’ ”

Dickenson said she mentioned it again at the White House Christmas party when she went through the receiving line and shook hands with the President.

“He was noncommittal,” she recalled, “but Mrs. Reagan said to me, ‘It is the most wonderful book.’ ”

So, if Reagan did appear in the movie, who would be his co-stars?

Dickenson said that Puttnam has “mentioned” Marlon Brando to play Brady. Asked if Brando’s ultra-liberal politics might squash the Reagan deal, Dickenson laughed and said, “I don’t know what to make of that.”

Brady, however, said he wants Tom Selleck or Burt Reynolds to play him.

But Dickenson said that she was taking the Reynolds suggestion seriously. “Jim has a wonderful sense of humor, and Burt Reynolds is so funny. And also Burt could do it straight and it would be a hell of a role for him.”

Gene Hackman also has been suggested in some press reports. But Dickenson noted that when she saw him at the Washington premiere of “Mississippi Burning” recently, he didn’t know about the project.

For some time, there has been a coterie of Hollywood Republicans with longtime ties to the former President who have been talking up the idea of having Reagan win an Oscar.

“I think it would be marvelous if the academy (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences) recognized Ronald Reagan’s contribution not only to the country but to our industry,” said Reagan’s good friend, producer A. C. Lyles.

So what has Reagan himself said about resuming his Hollywood career?

On Jan. 20, when he moved out of the White House and arrived in Los Angeles for good, he quipped to reporters: “I was asked to play a part in a remake of ‘Bedtime For Bonzo.’

“Only this time they wanted me to play Bonzo.”