The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001) (TV)

Director:

Cyrus Nowrasteh

Writer (WGA):

Cyrus Nowrasteh (written by)

Release Date:

9 December 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot Keywords:

Government | U.S. President | Assassination Attempt | Hospital

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Dreyfuss	...	Alexander Haig
Richard Crenna	...	Ronald Reagan
Yannick Bisson	...	Buddy Stein
Colm Feore	...	Caspar Weinberger
Michael Murphy	...	Michael Deaver
Kenneth Welsh	...	James Baker
Leon Pownall	...	Ed Meese
Robert Bockstael	...	Dick Allen
Beau Starr	...	Special Agent Cage
Alex Carter	...	Dr. Allard
Andrew Tarbet	...	Dr. Gregorio
Holland Taylor	...	Nancy Reagan
Christian Lloyd	...	John Hinckley
Sean McCann	...	Donald Regan
Jack Jessop	...	William Casey
John Connolly	...	James Brady
Angela Gei	...	Sarah Brady
Michael Greene	...	George Bush
Frank Moore	...	Lt. Col. Taylor
Ken James	...	General Yates
Oliver Dennis	...	David Gergen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bernard Behrens	...	Atty. Gen. Smith
Tiffanie Bell	...	Nurse Sally
Wayne Best	...	FBI Agent Kirkus
Christopher Bondy	...	White House Reporter (as Chris Bondy)
Brendan Connor	...	White House Reporter
Neil Crone	...	Lyn Nofziger
James Downing	...	Bagman
Dan Duran	...	Network Anchor
Greg Ellwand	...	Night Time News Host
Richard Fitzpatrick	...	Dr. Kobrine
Patrick Galligan	...	Larry Speakes
Rolando Alvarez Giacoman	...	Phone Repairman
Joel Gordon	...	Shooting Victim
Bruce Hunter	...	Agent Vaughn
Judah Katz	...	Trauma Team Dr.
Keith Kemps	...	Reporter #2
Tom Masek	...	V.O. Anatoly Dobrynin
John-Patrick Mavric	...	Stranger
Dean McKenzie	...	Agent Emery
Tom Melissis	...	Agent
Sandi Stahlbrand	...	E.R. Nurse Brandt (as Sandy Stahlbrandt)
Ola Sturik	...	White House Reporter
Brian Young	...	Reporter #1

Directed by
Cyrus Nowrasteh

Writing credits (WGA)
Cyrus Nowrasteh		(written by)

Produced by
Cathy Mickel Gibson	....	line producer
Dan Halsted	....	executive producer
Fritzi Horstman	....	associate producer
Armand Leo	....	producer
Oliver Stone	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Elizabeth Myers
John Trivers

Cinematography by
Michael McMurray

Film Editing by
Paul Seydor

Casting by
Felicia Fasano
Anne McCarthy
Mary Vernieu
Clare Walker

Production Design by
Jasna Stefanovic

Art Direction by
Brian Verhoog

Set Decoration by
Caroline Gee

Costume Design by
Antoinette Messam

Makeup Department
Mario Cacioppo	....	key assistant makeup artist
Paula Fleet	....	key hair stylist
Cheryl Ross	....	key assistant hair stylist
Geralyn Wraith	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Armand Leo	....	unit production manager
Skates Naiman	....	production supervisor (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Brian Backman	....	trainee assistant director
Marcia Douglas	....	second assistant director
Marcia Douglas	....	second unit director
Dale MacLean	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Margie Arnott	....	first assistant art director
Peter Constantinides	....	construction coordinator
Donavon Drummond	....	on-set dresser
Matthew Hallett	....	assistant head carpenter
Jacqui Hemingway	....	key scenic painter
Stephen Levitt	....	property master
Paul Robinson	....	lead set dresser
Richard Rosset	....	head painter
Rob Valeriote	....	head carpenter
Jennifer Wood	....	set buyer

Sound Department
David Bach	....	supervising dialogue editor
Deborah D. Bach	....	assistant dialogue editor
Alek Bromke	....	adr recordist: Toronto
William Jacobs	....	supervising sound editor
Sean Keegan	....	foley mixer
Gerry Lentz	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ao Loo	....	production sound mixer
Ken Porter	....	boom operator
Alexander Schwartz	....	foley artist
Walter Spencer	....	dialogue editor
Greg Steele	....	adr mixer
Edward M. Steidele	....	foley artist
Tim Webb	....	sound recordist
Rich Weingart	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Richard Weingart)

Special Effects by
Warren Appleby	....	special effects supervisor
Rob Sanderson	....	special effects supervisor

Stunts
John 'Frenchie' Berger	....	stunt double
Eric Bryson	....	stunt double
Shelley Cook	....	stunt coordinator
Regan Moore	....	stunt performer
Edward A. Queffelec	....	stunt driver
Branko Racki	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Auger	....	chief lighting technician
Michael Auger	....	gaffer
Iain Baird	....	Steadicam operator: "b" camera
Craig Campbell	....	rigging grip
Candide Franklyn	....	camera operator
Courtney Graham	....	second assistant camera
Marni Grossman	....	still photographer
Jamie Hodgson	....	generator operator
Steve Mrkobrada	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
David Pamplin	....	first company grip (as David 'Stretch' Pamplin)
Demetri Portelli	....	second assistant camera: "b" camera
Neil Roy	....	second company grip
Tim Sauder	....	dolly grip
Gabrielle Stannus	....	camera trainee
Jeremy Tabarrok	....	first assistant camera
Christopher Takacs	....	assistant lighting technician (as Chris Takacs)
David J. Woods	....	video playback operator
Sean Dawes	....	electrician (uncredited)

Casting Department
Sara Cuthbert	....	extras casting
Helen Mossler	....	casting executive

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Elayne Alexander	....	key wardrobe assistant
Richard Krough	....	assistant costume designer
Cara Porter	....	key wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Mikko Alanne	....	editor: opening title sequence
Ross Cole	....	color timer: dailies
Patrick Flannery	....	additional editor
Bruce Pearson	....	video color timer

Music Department
Stephen M. Rowe	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Mike Billard	....	transportation captain
Jason Leeking	....	transportation co-captain
Thomas 'Pecker' McNeill	....	picture vehicle coordinator
Frank Mizzi	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Jackie Alexander	....	production coordinator
Wendy Coulas	....	assistant: Mr. Nowrasteh
Lisa Ghione	....	unit publicist
Chris Glover	....	production assistant
Jen Leonard	....	assistant location manager
Ryan Lewis	....	assistant: Mr. Halsted
Jordana Lieberman	....	production assistant
Mary Mancuso	....	craft service
Stacey McKay	....	payroll accountant
Patty Meffe	....	craft service
Anne Richardson	....	location manager
Daniela Saioni	....	script supervisor
David Scheer	....	development executive
Kirsten Schreiber	....	production assistant
B.E. Sharp	....	production accountant
Heidi van Vlymen	....	assistant production coordinator
Ralph Berge	....	production executive (uncredited)
Dan Gosse	....	security officer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Halsted Pictures
• Ixtlan
• Paramount Network Television Productions
• Paramount Television
• Showtime Networks

Distributors

• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (Germany)
• Showtime Networks

Other Companies

• D.A.V.E. Audio  video post-production
• Elizabeth Bardsley & Associates  script annotation
• Sound Satisfaction  foley recording facilities

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Greece:K-13 | Argentina:13 | Germany:16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Halsted Pictures

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: A film truck is seen on the exterior of the president's limousine during the trip to George Washington Hospital.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.82)" (2006)

Belongs In the Allohistory genre

To history buffs, no matter what they say, Oliver Stone movies are a guilty pleasure. It's got to be fun knowing real history, and I mean the arcane stuff, then watch someone take it, distort certain aspects out of it, and package it up into pop culture. The Oliver Stone product is essentially the best allohistory out there. (Ok, Ian McKellan in "Richard III" (1995), placing the Shakespeare story in an fascist pre-war England is still the best, but there has to be something said for quantity. JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Path To War (aka LBJ) (2002), and this gem add up to a lot of entertainment.)

Stone is only somewhat limited by the endpoint constraints of actual history (i.e., on the morning of March 30, 1981, Regan is shot, and by the evening, Vice President George H.W. Bush is back in Washington). But other than that, it's open season for counterfactuals. Yes, Haig was famous for his "Haig-isms", and was prone to make statements like the famous "I'm in charge here" gaff. He actually did take the lead in the control room. But I only wish he acted like the Dryefuss portrayal, which makes the attempted coup in the classic "Seven Days in May" (1964) look like an episode of "The West Wing". From the start, Dryefuss' Haig is clearly the villain, much more so than Hinkley, who appears relatively level-headed. Hinkley just wants to impress Jodie Foster. Haig wants to press the button.

Dryefuss barely uses any restraint in the character, and at times reminded me of his comic performance as Jay Trotter in "Let It Ride". Anyway, he goes screaming for the nuclear football, tries to invoke the 25th Amendment, in-fights with Cap Weinberger, negotiates with the Soviets over the hotline about an ICBM launch, while holding NORAD on the line. Meanwhile, I thought Richard Crenna did a great job of looking kind of like Reagan. (Actually, Dryefuss looks a lot like Haig himself.) And I thought Michael Murphy as Michael Deaver was brilliant casting. Also, I have no problem with their unflattering portrayal of Nancy Reagan. But, they went a little too far in the scene where they try to prop up Reagan in the hospital bed for a picture (note the blurred camera POV, and the where-am-I smile on Regan). That was comedy straight out of Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973) where Allen is just unfrozen after 200 years and they're trying to get him past the security agents.

It would have all been good fun, except then National Security Adviser Richard Allen made a tape of the whole affair, using a Sony recorder, and forgot about it for 20 years. It surfaced again just after the movie was filmed, but before it was released. The transcripts were published, and the cabinet secretaries had a reunion on the Larry King Show, to play back parts of the tape, and other media coverage of the day. Al Haig's behaviour that day was only a minor issue, and his old colleagues said nothing got out of control, and things went about as would be expected for that kind of crisis. Not exactly 13 days in October. Unless you're Oliver Stone.