David Henrie Went From A Wizard to Young Reagan

joining us now is David Henry who plays young Reagan and the upcoming film Reagan David we're so excited to have you joining us welcome thank you very much excited to be here appreciate you having me yeah of course so our viewers are always excited when Catholics are playing big roles in films and like I just said you're playing young Reagan can you give us an idea of what it was like preparing for that role because obviously you were not um you know a young man when Reagan was in office maybe you weren't even born and uh so how did you prepare for that role yes it was it's definitely an intimidating one to prepare for not just because Reagan was my grandmother's Big Crush but because he's such a known figure right and people come with a lot of expectations a lot of people living memories oragan I was born when his second term ended I was born in ' 89 so um there it was challenging because there wasn't a lot of material on him when he was between the ages of 16 to 29 which is when I play him so all I could do is find the earliest video I could of him and work with that and he sounded a lot different when he was younger than when he was older um he was quicker he was higher pitch his accents were stronger um so it certainly had a lot of challenges and then there was the you know the weight thing as well when he was 16 he was a string bean so I had to lose like 15 pounds for the roll even then I should have lost more but um it certainly had lots of challenges but it was in the end all the more rewarding because of them yeah and did you and Dennis Quaid at all work together so I know he was playing the older Reagan which is probably most of the film and you just said that younger Reagan was different looked different sounded different uh was there any sort of collaboration you guys did where you were like hey did you know this about Reagan I I was reading this a little bit Yeah but we you know I didn't want to get in his way and I also didn't want to do anything that would affect his performance so I kind of I watched him and I saw how he was doing Reagan and I just wanted to tee him up nicely because he does carry the majority of the film um so my goal was to really tee him up nicely and I think there is a really nice handoff between uh he and I in the film yeah I'm definitely excited to see it so last week we actually had your director Sean mamera um as an interviewee and it it's we again get excited when there's Catholics in these big films so what was it like working with him he was great he was great this film had a quick Pace it was definitely one that wanted to punch above its weight so it needed a director that can have a eye for beauty as well as work quickly and Sean was definitely that guy that's great and I know that you're also a husband and a father and so what does your family think of the film I know you said your wife saw it yeah they they my wife loved it she um she obviously is behind the scenes seeing me work out every day and try to get in shape and eat clean and all the things that I had to do at the time when I was doing this role um so she was particularly proud uh because this was this was a long time in the making um so yeah she was she was definitely particularly proud yeah of course as wives would be so um when you are preparing for a role in general not just this role of young Reagan do you incorporate any sort of discernment or prayer when you're trying to decide whether to take on a role or maybe to direct a project like what what's the thought process that goes into that and does it incorporate your faith absolutely yeah I mean to me my my faith is definitely The Guiding Light in my life so anything that I do I look the the the kind of Criterion in my mind is does this amplify truth beauty and goodness and can this Elevate and have an impact on the viewer and so for me this project has that in Spades as well as you know like a project I will direct um I just directed a film called Monster summer with Mel Gibson and Lorraine brocco and Mason Thames It's a Wonderful spooky family adventure that comes out October 4th in theaters Nationwide and to me that was at the Forefront of my mind too is what what's the truth beauty and goodness because on its on its face that film looks like stranger things or The Goonies or ET think of all this all these sort of fun Spielberg movies you might have grown up on and it looks just like that and and that was my goal but but under the surface it's about good versus evil and about the search and Quest For Truth um it's a fun family adventure this Halloween that I'm excited for people to see but it's it's it's got a lot of that truth beauty and goodness under the surface yeah and you also have something that was on Netflix right a similar something grim I'm not remembering the name yeah Hansel and gredle mat taale dark and Grim the Grim fairy tales uh that's another one that I I produced and got to write for um that got us an we got an Emmy nomination for that and yeah that that has a tons of that fairy tales in themselves especially the Grim Brothers um are all about truth beauty and goodness uh and that that story in particular had a had a ton of that as well as you know to me it's like what guides my life truth beauty and goodness right the transcendentals like I just partnered with um Cross Catholic Outreach I'm an ambassador for them now and um that's a literal way to do the Corporal Works of Mercy all over the world which I'm excited to bring food and medicine and supplies and and boxes of Joy which are these little boxes with presents for kids um that I'm going to be bringing to Guatemala um in Christmas time so it's truth beauty goodness is definitely the guiding Guiding Light in my life yeah and we've definitely talked about Cross Catholic Outreach here on Catholic TV so we love that that program that they have okay one final question for you I know this is nothing to do with um movies but I did read that uh you met Pope Francis after you and your wife had suffered several miscarriages so can you tell us that story yeah yeah I it's a crazy story I'll try to make it very quick um yeah my wife and I suffered a few miscarriages and we couldn't figure out what was going on and we were really struggling and seeing all sorts of doctors all over and uh around that time A friend of mine said hey I'm I I have a a meeting with the Pope do you want to come with me and um I was actually having dinner with Selena Gomez at that time and I said yeah Selena you want to go too and she was like yeah so me and my wife Selena and a couple and and her friend um Raquel all went over to meet the pope and um before I met him I I I said to him in Italian I practiced this so I say it clearly but I I don't know if I remember this was five years ago now or six years ago but I said Papa Franchesco per po which which is like you know hey please pray for me and my wife we'd love to have a baby or we we'd love to have the arrival of a baby and uh and he took my wife and I around the shoulder he put his hand on both of our shoulders and he said don't worry you know you'll have a baby soon and then he put our hands together and put his hands on our hands and um said a quick blessing and uh nine months later we had P Francesca Henry uh and we we had her middle name her her full name is Pia filamina Franchesca Henry and um Francesca's obviously after Pope Francis I love that and so she's probably old enough now to know that story too yes yes yes yes absolutely absolutely it's so beautiful well David thank you so much for your time we're gonna encourage everyone to go see Reagan in theaters on August 30th I really appreciate it thank you very much thanks for the time yes take care okay bye David thank you so much