The Reagans: A Love Story | Killing Reagan

You know, they have been underestimating us all our lives. It was a fairy tale, the two of them against the world. She understood him and knew him and what he needed. He was a very private individual, by all reports very shy, so he had a very good manner of dealing with people. But there was always a space, and I think Nancy filled that space for him.

When they were with each other, they could be themselves, especially Nancy. When she was not being watched, when nothing was expected of her, she could just be herself. And that's how that's in the script in the film. I hope that's where you'll see a kind of intimacy that you can only imagine.

Ronald Reagan never would have overcome his wound inflicted by John Hinckley if Nancy Reagan had not been there every step of the way. He depended on Nancy Reagan after he was shot for almost everything: psychologically, emotionally, even physically. She didn't run the country; she ran him, and who needed that?

There is a moment in the movie where—this comes after the assassination attempt—where Nancy goes to her husband and tries to convince him to hire an astrologer to warn them when they're going to have bad days ahead. There's been mockery made of her as a result of that decision and the control that she sort of seized in the abject and determined protection of her husband, which is all understandable.

I think what is so affecting in that scene, both in how it's written and performed, is you immediately can feel the underlying love that is motivating all of this. When she sits on Ronald Reagan's lap and looks him deeply in the eye and begs, you can see concern on the gravely wounded Ronald Reagan's face and in his eyes. That concern comes from a love for his wife, and I think it's a rather beautiful scene.

I think they were as close as two people could be. The strength of the bond was undeniable. You know, Nancy says all these things about Ronnie; you know when she met him, that's when her life began. She didn't really feel that her life had begun before that. Her career was to help him in every way she could to make his dreams come true.