Will Ferrell pulls out of controversial Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's comedy
According to Page Six, though Ferrell has seen the script and was considering producing it and starring as the former president, he has dropped out of the project.
"The 'Reagan' script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered," a spokesperson for Ferrell told Page Six. "While it is by no means an 'Alzheimer's comedy' as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project."
Reagan's daughter, Patty Davis, wrote an open letter on her website about news of the project, which read:
The project currently has no financing or a director attached.
According to Variety, the script, penned by Mike Rosolio, begins at the start of the then-president's second term when he falls into dementia and an ambitious intern is tasked with convincing the commander-in-chief that he is an actor playing the president in a movie.
A popular project on The Black List, the annual catalog of top unproduced scripts in Hollywood, the script even had a live read last month done by Lena Dunham and John Cho.
Business Insider's attempt to get further comment from Ferrell's rep was not successful.