Reagan (2024) on Netflix
In present-day Moscow, Andrei Novikov asks former KGB agent Viktor Petrovich why the Soviet Union fell. Petrovich's answer is the life of Ronald Reagan, from Illinois boyhood to Hollywood.
- Netflix2.0/5
- IMDb6.2/1013,634 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes18%
Trailer
Plot summary
A former KGB agent, Viktor Petrovich, receives a visitor at his Moscow home: Andrei Novikov, a Russian politician who wants to know why the Soviet Union fell. Petrovich was once assigned to watch Ronald Reagan, and he tells the story from its start, a 1920s Illinois boyhood with an alcoholic father, Jack, and a mother, Nelle, who gave her son her Christian faith. Reagan becomes a born-again Christian, works as a lifeguard and a radio announcer, then goes to Hollywood as an actor. The Soviets keep their attention on him as his screen career fades and he takes the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild; in 1949 he meets the actress Nancy Davis.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Reagan (2024)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film leans on prominent musicians covering standards: Bob Dylan sings Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" over the end credits, Gene Simmons covers the 1930s standard "Stormy Weather", and Clint Black sings John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
- Producer Mark Joseph had trouble securing financing, with several deals made before production that never came through, so he turned to outside independent financing that made up the film's $25 million budget.
- Filming on the movie shut down on October 22, 2020, after several crew members tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic, and restarted on November 5, 2020.
- Facebook temporarily blocked the film from advertising on its platform, saying the ads were efforts to influence the 2024 United States elections.
- Back in 2012, Jon Voight was in discussions to portray Viktor Petrovich, a character Paul Kengor said was based on a number of KGB agents and Soviet analysts tasked with keeping tabs on Ronald Reagan for years.
