Dennis Quaid decided to star in Reagan biopic after visiting Reagan Ranch, calling him ‘My favorite president

Actor Dennis Quaid said he was “very intimidated” to take on the role of former President Ronald Reagan in the biopic film, which is set to release Aug. 30.

The actor explained it took him some time to accept the role of Reagan and that he did not say yes for two months. Quaid revealed a visit to the former president’s ranch in California was what convinced him to take on the role because the historical site was where he felt a connection to Reagan.

“Everybody knows Reagan, just like everybody in the world knows Muhammad Ali,” Quaid said on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum. “And he was also a hero of mine, my favorite president, and I didn’t want to do an impersonation. But I went to the Reagan Ranch, and that’s where I really felt him. He was a very humble man actually, up there at the Reagan Ranch, and that’s when I decided to take the roll.”

Quaid also revealed that the Reagan biopic will make the former president’s relationship with former first lady Nancy Reagan a central focus, noting that they experienced a “very long love story.”

The biopic will also feature Quaid’s real-life dog Peaches, who will play the Reagan family’s dog in the film. However, Quaid acknowledged that Peaches’s role is not “completely historically accurate.”

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Quaid made news last month when he revealed that he planned to vote for former President Donald Trump this November, citing his concern about the “weaponization of our justice system.” When elaborating on this decision, Quaid described the use of the U.S. justice system as a “constitutional issue.”

Reagan will not be Quaid’s first biopic. Last year, he starred in On a Wing and a Prayer, which detailed the true story of Doug White, a passenger who safely landed the plane he and his family were traveling on after the pilot died in 2009.