Will Ferrell backs out of Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's comedy after family outcry

Just days after it was aounced that Will Ferrell would produce and star in a comedy about former President Ronald Reagan’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, the actor has now bailed on the project.

“The REAGAN script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered. While it is by no means an ‘Alzheimer’s comedy,’ as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project,” a rep for Ferrell said in a statement obtained Friday by the Daily News.

After news reports surfaced Wednesday that Ferrell would be taking part in the comedy, he was greeted with outcry from the late president’s family and supporters. Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, was among those who denounced the project.

•RELATED PHOTOS: Remembering Ronald Reagan on 105th aiversary of his birth

“I saw the news bulletin — as did everyone — that you intend to portray my father in the throes of Alzheimer’s for a comedy that you are also producing. 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,” Davis wrote in an open letter to Ferrell on her website. “Alzheimer’s is the ultimate pirate, pillaging a person’s life and leaving an empty landscape behind ... Perhaps for your comedy you would like to visit some dementia facilities. I have — I didn’t find anything comedic there, and my hope would be that if you’re a decent human being, you wouldn’t either.”

The former Califoia goveor’s son, Michael Reagan who is president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation, also said he was disappointed by the project. “#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,” Reagan tweeted Thursday.

•RELATED STORY: Public says goodbye to Nancy Reagan at Simi Valley library

According to published reports, the script for the film centers around the start of the then-president’s second term as he begins to show signs of dementia and staffers try to convince him that he is an actor playing the commander-in-chief in a movie.

The Alzheimer’s Association also slammed the project.

“The Alzheimer’s Association is appalled that anyone would plan to develop a film that satirizes an individual living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia,” the statement said. “More than 5 million Americans are living with the disease, and their 15 million family caregivers provide support every day. This disease is not a joke. In addition to its devastating impact, it is fatal. The Alzheimer’s Association will rally against anyone who marginalizes the devastating and deadly impact of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Advertisement