The Reagans Script

In all the discussions of the CBS mini-series, The Reagans, it struck me that both sides were bluffing to a great extent. Some claimed to have seen excerpts and/or read the entire script, and I have a hunch this was a fib by folks who didn't really care that much what was really in it. In any case, you can now read the script for yourself. Salon has posted it as an Acrobat PDF file, so I imagine it'll be all over the Internet by nightfall.

Reading a script and knowing what you're reading is not an exact science, and even some very experienced, highly-paid execs have okayed a screenplay and been quite surprised at the tone and message of the film that was then made from it. Years ago, I recall reading the screenplay for The Right Stuff before I saw the film and expecting a movie that was largely contemptuous of the original astronauts. The finished product was not that, even though it was directed by the same person who'd authored that screenplay. So you can imagine the variance possible when, as in the Reagans mini-series, the director is working from a script he didn't write.

Nevertheless, this release of the script will give the film's detractors a chance to be more specific as to what they felt is factually inaccurate. I expect they will, though it will mean holding this one mini-series to a standard that has rarely been applied to other works.