Exposing the Real Way Conservatives in Hollywood Are Targeted | Dennis Quaid

a few years ago you all the you get cancelled just for stating your political views and back when we were doing Reagan I uh it was attempt uh to cancel me a couple of times you know based on untruths and politically I'm an independent I always have been I voted both ways over uh what is it five decades now and um and I've uh really kind of been that way then pretty private about my my politics but I I felt that uh this uh election is one where everybody really needed to take aide and being vocal usually I don't like to hear actors talk about who they're for and all that stuff because yeah you know what do we do for a living you know and uh but uh so ad I just I just I didn't like it that our that our judicial system was uh being misused for political purposes and then and I've uh thought it was an assault on our Constitution and just as a citizen I need to speak out I'm Dave ruin and joining me today is an actor a musician a television personality and star of the upcoming biographical film Reagan coming out August 30th Dennis Quaid pleasure to have you on the Reuben report he Dave great to be here thank you thanks for having me oh it's my pleasure I'm I'm a big fan and we were going through your catalog this morning and I'm just going to read off a couple movies people have seen all of them a million times but Foot Loose parent tra the rookie gii Joe Day After Tomorrow Any Given Sunday Flight of the Phoenix The Right Stuff traffic the Alamo Great Balls of Fire and now I'm going to show you a trailer of one of your movies because this is a top 10 all-time movie for me I'm a child of the80s and I just watched the trailer again this morning and it captures something that I think we have lost in this country Inner Space test pilot tuck Pendleton wants to make history Supermarket clerk Jack putter needs a vacation ja you're late that's not good you know it's coupon day lieutenant Pendleton is about to be miniaturized placed into this needle and then injected into this rabbit rock and roll but something went wrong and Tuck about to get a new destination inside jack putter I'm in a man hello can you hear me I'm possessed now Jack's got twice the problems how you doing jack but he's double the man with tuck on his side K More [Applause] Cows in his gut and on his case you're not going to B groceries all your life are you Jack and only 24 hours left for Jack to get out of danger so that tuck can get out of Jack Dennis Quaid Martin Short give yourself a shot of Adventure Inner Space right up until you br your intro to it right up I thought you were gonna say the right stuff but it was the interpace but it was Inner Space Dennis I gotta tell you that movie I don't know I guess I'm I was born in 76 so I was probably about 11 or 12 years old when I saw it the Sci-Fi element you're miniaturized um Martin Short the acting like and the fun like even the even TR it was funny and fun what happened to movies like that man agree what happened to movies like that that I we take things a little bit too seriously maybe these days right and instead of just having some good oldfashioned fun in space is probably the movie that I most recognized for around the world in fact is that right yes I've been in India and somebody will say hey in our space now how did they actually shrink you for that or was that the magic of Hollywood it was a a long process we did it the old [Laughter] fashtion the microwave you know so because 1987 obviously feels a long time ago and you have you have now what three four decades really four at least in the in the biz have you seen that shift I mean sort of away from fun away from Original Stories that's the other reason why I love that movie so much it was just so new to me uh versus we're just getting so many retreads of things and Ghostbusters nine and just the reboot and all of that it does feel like there's been a dryness of that creative well well I I find that uh few movies squeak through uh these days as well you know had the sound of freedom and you know every once in a while I'll see a real bust out comedy that's that uh I really like and uh people buy then used to complain about the movies as well believe it believe it or not I guess that's an ongoing thing but it's definitely not like it used to be I I will say that for one thing the studios don't don't make as many movies as they used to it used to be with every Studio there a major Studio there' be at least 40 movies uh you know you times that times four or five it's about 200 movies coming out and now they uh major Studio might make eight uh and they all got to be big 10 polls and they seem to be the same they're all dark and the the some kind of you future metallic thing or they have to have some kind of political bent to them that uh people don't want to see yeah was that was that always there you think the political bent I mean people talk about you know the blacklists of way back when in Hollywood and everything else and now maybe the bend goes the other way something like that well yeah there was government control that way back there to the 30s as soon as we get talk on on the movies they started uh you know regulating the the political content I think of it and sometimes it was kind of bent one way or the other and that's gone back and forth you know dur the late 40s and uh 50s you you know you had the uh McCarthy hearings and you know the the red red scares which uh actually turns out the the Soviets were surreptitiously trying to take over our unions and uh Ronald Reagan was uh president of the Screen Actors Guild back then he actually fought against communism um but um you know it's been um it's it seems to have been I think a little bit more towards liberal uh in the in the past couple of decades but you used to have people like John Wayne Uh Charon hon uh the a you know actors side by side working with each other all having different points of view being able to State those points of view H in a in a dialogue or or a debate or if you will and that has disappeared in the last couple of years I do believe it's coming back interesting so you know I don't know a ton about your politics but you know we played a clip of you a couple weeks ago on Piers Morgan where he was kind of pushing and pulling trying to get a little more out of you politically and and you basically said Trump is my guy that do you feel that that's still tough to do in that town to be able to say that and feel like you're going to still get work and all that like I said I think the things have started to change uh and they needed to change um like uh for few years ago you all the you get cancelled just for stating your political views back when we were doing Reagan I uh it was attempt to cancel me a couple of times you know based on untruths are politically I'm an independent I always have been I voted both ways over uh what is it five decades now and um and I've uh really kind of been that way then pretty private about my my politics but I felt that uh this uh election is one where everybody really needed to take a side and be vocal usually I don't like to hear actors talk about who they're for and all that stuff because yeah you know what do we do for a living you know and uh but uh so you ad I just I just I didn't like it that our that our judicial system was uh being misused for political purposes and then and I've uh thought it was an assault on our Constitution and just as a citizen I need to speak out do you find it kind of funny that so many actors feel that they should speak up because I can tell you now it seems that everyone is so Overexposed that when I watch movies I'm less inclined to enjoy movies that I know everything about the actor I find it refreshing when I turn on a movie and I have no idea who they are it feels more authentic to me rather than I'm just picking somebody oh that's Tom Hanks pretending to do that thing right uh you know I totally agree with you in that and but those days are gone it used to be that uh let's go back to the 70s even the 80s I mean actress Jack Nicholson Robert Redford uh you you know as far as advertising their films they would do like maybe one interview in a magazine and that wouldn't even do talk shows you barely knew anything about them and that's really what makes movie stars because is as an audience member you can you could watch that film and you could imprint uh onto that onto that actor your own feelings about that you know that's that's and uh that's not possible social media completely ruined that I I think or ruined it what have changed it there's no there was no going you know now as an actor especially starting now starting out if you're not on Instagram and and out there you know having everybody know everything about you you're not going to get anywhere right you had to go to actual auditions in your day and wait on long lines and all of that stuff well yeah for a time I've been I've been very grateful for the career that I've had uh you know but uh there's no changing in going back to what it was you know there's no mystery anymore I think and that's what's missing that's why I think there's uh really a time where there are no movie stars anymore new ones coming up or fewer and far between yeah well the guy that you're doing this movie about which comes out on August 30th just in a couple days from when we're airing this uh he was uh from that Hollywood and he got into some political problems and all that was that sort of the Genesis of your interest in him was it more the political part of him was it more the acting part where were you always interested in Ronald Reagan or was this just a project that was brought to you I grew up with Ronald Reagan uh basically you know my father was a a huge fan I remember being in the car in 64 on our way to galliston when he gave the speech which we heard on the radio and my father was banging on the dashboard you know to get Ronnie and stuff and uh that was you know uh when he switched parties in' 64 yeah and you know we're not campaign for goat in the meantime that was my first real awareness of him before that I had an awareness of him as uh the guy who sold vxo so on on TV on on Death Valley days and that and and also as an actor but um I would he was all I voted for Ronald Reagan uh when I was I think I was uh 20 something at the time and came home and my roommate who was uh you know really you know from the hippie generation said who'd you vote for I said Ronald Reagan he said you were kicked out of the hippies that was the end of that that was it you were gone from the hippie so they bring this they bring this role to you or did you did you hunt this yeah it was brought to me I was just out of the blue and and um Noah Hamilton who is the brother of Bethany Hamilton uh the surfer who was portrayed in Soul Surfer the movie that I did you know she lost an arm yeah to a shark um Noah call me up said he there's these people that are doing movie on Reagan and they they want you do it you know but you have a meeting with them and uh so I said sure and then they weren't going through my agents because I don't think it was the most popular thing you know Reagan still in this town to uh to do uh and um so I met with them and uh they offered me part and that was Mark Joseph who's the producer and I didn't say yes but I didn't say no because one thing it's it's quite daunting to him he's he was my favorite president is a loom large in my life and everyone in the world I think knows like Mohamad Ali what he looks like sounds like and has opinion of you know who he who he should be and uh there there was fear involved in that but I took my time to think about it and going up to the Reagan Ranch which was the Western White House where you could really feel him that's what uh got me to say yes I mean it's it's pretty beautiful up there in Simi Valley and that that whole the library and the whole the whole facility is is wonderful yeah the Reagan Ranch though is not open to the public it's you know was the Western White House and a group of friends bought it uh after uh his passing and they kept it exactly as Ron and Nancy left it and their clothes are still in the closet in fact you expect them to come back 30 minutes or four remember there uh the his library with every book that he had read since he was 9 years old is still intact and what hit me when I went up there what made me say yes was because I could feel Ronald Reagan I realized when coming in the front gate after going up five miles of the worst Road in California that Reagan was not a rich man and Reagan was also a very humble man uh he and Nancy they had a king-sized bed but it was two single beds that were zip tied together and uh you they had to a little basket there with a note from Nancy how to operate the television with the the three remotes you know like go Kong Kong yeah and very very simple um uh the house is not even 1100 square feet and um wow this is where the queen came uh to visit Queen of England and came to visit and very very humble really unassuming man in in a way you you sort of hit on this already but how do you feel about doing a role where you have to recreate someone like Ronald Reagan versus just a role where you're creating the character from scratch you know on my show I would say probably twice a month we end the show with a clip of Reagan just from one of his famous speeches and it's not just the content of what he's saying that obviously ofin was written by somebody else but it's the way he said everything his sense of humor the pauses he had absolute Mastery of public speaking time and time again I mean that that's not an easy thing to recreate yeah and that's the way we see it who had absolute Mastery what was going on in his head at the time might be a very different story uh you know it's I paid I've played uh several real people you know from Doc Holiday and you know those not with us anymore to like Jimmy Morris uh in the rookie who was there on the set with me you know while we're while I was doing the role uh the entire time to Jerry Lee Lewis and I always try to when it comes to real people and the difference between that and a madeup character is that I feel a responsibility to tell their story from their point of view CU if someone was doing my story that's what I would One MH at least and um it's finding a way in to know them privately not just the public Persona to you know just to do kind of didn't want to do an impression or impersonation of the way he walked and talked there's a reason why inside why they walk the way they do why they talk the way they do and where's that private place with him and Reagan I was in my research I come to find out that everyone uh to uh to a person said that there was a private place in Reagan that in a way made him kind of unknowable uh in a sense that I think even Nancy may have experienced to a degree even though she knew him better than anybody and it very place and I think uh in in studying him and stuff I think that was his relationship with God in the end was that that private place and that I think that affected every decision he made and uh every move that he made in life how do you actually do that research is that talking to friends or family that may still be around reading books is that just spending time in the home is it all of those things all of that yeah I read about I read about five biographies you know and then there's there's so much on on uh on YouTube which is really fantastic for uh you know for visually and uh historically uh for him even and you know I Liv through it uh those times myself and talked to quite a number of people who personal relationships what one of the best was U when I went to the Reagan Ranch was his uh personal Secret Service uh detail John who was uh it really kept up acting As a caretaker uh there at the ranch the one he he rode with him uh they picked him because he could ride horses and he rode with Reagan uh on a daily basis and was you know was with him in the you know from the White House to the end of his life and do you I obviously the movie is not out yet so I've only seen the trailer is this are you going through the the entirety of his life is this focusing on one kind of was there one was there one section that was most interesting to you I play him from about the age of 35 when he was you know his first years in in Hollywood all the way till uh his letter to the American people when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and you know I as an actor you know you you know you mentioned this earlier you know you're always going to be you you can't get away from yourself you know uh even with all the mystery if if I'm watching Robert Redford in a movie I'm I'm watching Robert Redford do this person I'm never unaware that that this is Robert Redford and that you know that's what makes it unique with the interpretation of that and but I wanted to get under you things that we had in common you know I try to link that that's something I can understand as a human being and that we all as human beings can understand you know is by portraying their humanity and uh Ronald Reagan and I were both actors and we both have kind of Sunny dispositions uh the way we optimistic in in the way that we see things with him you know I I try to get into their into insecurities they may have had as well which also makes them human you know not just they don't see themselves as Heroes all the time I think Ronald rean uh one thing I can kind of relate to as well I don't think Ronald Reagan uh actually felt this like he was a success as an actor because I don't think he he got to that place that he wanted to be as an actor you know John Wayne took that slot and uh uh Ron Ragan you know he was in B movies and you know part part of that didn't have to do with his talent it had to do with you know Jack Warner or whatever the studio for one reason or another just you know it didn't happen he married uh Jan Wyman who was you know his career was going down and and uh kind of fading and she won an Academy award and what's that like to you know be in a relationship where you're be transcended in in in what you do which I'm sure made a lot to him but then then then again uh from there that's why he got he became the president of the Screen Actors Guild first the vice president then the president of the Screen Actors Guild that's uh tell you the truth it's not a job that everybody hungers for they actor that's something you do after you when your career starts to fade and um and you know you know what that's where I think God had a purpose for him and that's where he was leading him did you see many metaphors in sort of the politics of today and and Reagan's own political Evolution I mean he was famous for the you know I didn't leave the Democratic party the Democratic party left me I think we're seeing an awful lot of that sort of sentiment these days our so similar to uh 1978 79 1980 in election what we were America was in Decline we had the trouble with Iran in the Middle East you know the it was the Soviet Union uh and Ukraine is going on today the economy the interest rates were 20% uh to buy a house I know I right got 20% oh man are are you out from under that one yet I got yes I did I I got I got off from under that one but uh it's you know very similar and also but more than that there was Carter even gave a speech about the Mala that was uh in this country and uh and very similar circumstances and that's what which I think uh be interesting kind of note and reflection for people seeing uh the movie today as well but yeah the thing about Ronald Reagan as a president uh his he governed by principles not by the issues of the day there was certain principles that were set and um I'd like to see a return to that actually because if you govern by principles it doesn't matter if you're Democrat Republican in in the long term it represents our nation and not just the whim of of the pop culture it's so interesting you say that because that is what I've been saying I think the opportunity is for Trump assuming he gets the second term here it's like he has now created this wide swath of people from rappers and UFC guys to traditional conservatives and everything in between that if you govern by principles and you have all those people that that's almost all of us actually it's a little hard to see sometimes yeah yeah in terms puts it in terms that everybody aspires to yeah and uh I think they definitely seen a 2.0 happen with him you know people uh forget that uh you know back in the uh back in the 80s and the '90s uh Trump played mentor to a a lot of upcoming really rich rap artists and and uh people coming up that uh he played mentor to and uh he's uh he's always been able to to walk in every strata of society and and communicate with people and um you it's uh very defin re Reagan definitely had that and so you know I don't like to in a way compare Reagan with Trump because they are both uh different they're different they they're different styles and in different ways and uh I don't want to take away from either of them uh so but uh times are very similar to what they were then so my audience knows that I go Off the Grid every August no phone no TV no nothing so they they know that we're taping this in July and we're going to air this just a couple days before the movie comes out but obviously right now right now as we're speaking live we're just a couple days past this assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life uh Dennis believe it or not I think my first memory as a child um of of any real event Beyond just being in my house playing with toys or something was Reagan's assassination attempt I think it was 1980 and I remember sitting on the couch I was probably four years old watching that with my parents and I very vividly can remember a sort of cartoon body that they showed on TV with a bullet going in and everybody explaining my parents freaking out and my mom crying and all that uh that must have obviously you you filmed this before what happened to Trump but in light of recent events I'm sure that's been kind of bouncing around in your head oh yes uh I mean everybody I mean I remember the day Kennedy was shot you know in detail it's it's how Vivid those memories are and for all of us as Americans uh we'll will'll never forget uh what happened Saturday it's uh it's a syan experience and how close we came to that same tragedy that you know uh when Kennedy when Sean Kennedy was shot in 63 it and then Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy this is all within five years I think you know it paralyzed us I think for at least uh 15 20 years as as a as a as a nation it our it went a long way toward deteriorating our our confidence as a nation you know we had Watergate that was thrown in there and uh people had a mistrust of government you know and go there was government conspiracy going on and step once again the very kind of the same issues that were present then as they are now yeah you but luckily we got to we got to not have to experience that kind of tragedy and and I really believe that was God's hand is it in had to be is it in the movie the famous moment I think it was his first speech back from the assassination attempt when there was the loud bang in the back of the room and what was his great line on missed me miss me miss I mean even he said it so gly too he just kept going over this stage up is that is that in the movie the whole world cracked up because everybody I think I think he probably so you don't see it there but I think everybody in the room ducked but him he didn't even didn't even Flinch this said really missed me that time how long did you have to wait wait uh how long did you have to work on the the voice for that and what you have to do with your throat and all that stuff but that that took quite a while you know I was lucky I had uh at least year and a half as it turned out to prepare for the rooll and uh you know there lots of stuff like I said on YouTube and um so in private I would uh started doing the voice and then I just kind of lived with it just kind of do it all day not to you know just to myself and then to you know kind of uh my family then you know before I took get out there because I didn't want to be an impersonation and also uh you know the younger ban his his voice is kind of way up here you know that's because we all our voice changes throughout throughout our lives so getting all that right and the other thing was Wan's crooked smile which was a little small detail but I think had a lot to do with his personality and what was going on on the inside he he had a crooked smile that you know I think it had to do with from a fight or some injury or something in his life uh that that damaged the the nerves not to be able to to be up both sides of the mouth so this will probably be the hardest question obviously this is not a hardwall interview but was there anything that you learned about him that you didn't want to bring to light and I guess even asking you that in an interview is probably a ridiculous question to some extent but when you were doing your research was there something that you didn't want to show a certain way or something or that you were happy maybe didn't make it into the script something like that no no in fact uh you know I didn't I didn't want it to be a love letter I did want it to be his life I didn't want to be from his point of view but uh you know he always uh was a able to himself and to uh the American people as well for what he did was take Iran Contra uh for instance which is a very uncomfortable time you know in in the Reagan years you he was a delegator uh delegate a lot of things to get done and you know I believe him and you know it was coming to the American people and uh telling them what happened and in his from his mind and his heart that I think saved him from being impeached he was in danger of that also I don't think he responded to AIDS uh as well as as he could have I think uh that was uh going a lot down I think he did come to uh or to it was kind of a that was process I think for him but his initial response was I I don't think was something to be proud of uh and um I think Nancy helped him a lot with that along the way he did start the long Cabin Republicans yeah and uh you know he was uh he was a lot more inclusive than I think people gave gave him credit for and he um yeah um but I just wanted to you play him as a human being and not and not be political like like a political love letter at the same time because that's not very interesting anyway and it's not the truth one more for you what do you think he would be saying to us because part of the reason that I do play those clips often to end the show of him is be is because even though some of them are 30 40 50 years ago they capture something that we seen to have forgotten and it's something that I think I think we're both in agreement we need to kind of reignite in this country maybe there's an opportunity with Trump right now but what do you think he would make of just sort of the way things seem to be in this strange moment you know he and Tipo Neo was the Speaker of the House a staunched Democrat and Reagan uh were bitter political enemies from 9 to5 but they said at the beginning they they both made an agreement that you know uh from 9 to5 we're going to Slug It Out uh you know as far as what our vision of America is but after five o'clock we're just a couple Irish men having a beer and they really got to know each other as people and that's where that's where political change happens that's where spiritual change happens that's where we we come together and United and we speak as one voice that's what the founding fathers really intended uh you know it was about compromise compromise was one of the first words that they talked about when they when it came to you know uh the Declaration of Independence that be in the Constitution you know everybody had to compromise and uh but it was together that we did it and um Reagan had a very special thing that he would say you know that one of his staff note of of to O'Neal that you know he was like kind of the enemy and he said well he uh he might be a he's an eight he's an might be a 20% enemy but he's an 80% friend and uh you shouldn't let throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to that we could probably all use a little bit more of that well I really yeah I just remember we're at least like 70% for okay I like that you lowered the percentage it's things are hot these days that that's good yeah well Reagan is out on August 30th I can't wait to see it by the way about 15 minutes ago it just popped into my head that I listed out all your great movies and I didn't say frequency which is also one of my favorite movies of all time love that movie I really love that movie haven't seen it it's just got such a great message about the across the generations and all that and I guess the last thing I'll ask is any any chance for in space to I mean it's so obvious it could be spun off into a sequel or a TV show give me something here come on I would do that and I beat anything to get all that private trailer TR time with Marty Short we just laughed we just laughed our butts off the entire the entire thing he is so hysterical and such a talented guy and so much fun with him Dennis I thank you for your time I wish you good luck with the movie thank you Dave if you're looking for more uncensored opinions from today's thought leaders check out our media playlist and if you want to watch full interviews on a variety of topics watch our full episode playlist all right over here and to get notified of all future videos be sure to subscribe and click the notification Bell