When filmmaker and writer Howard Klausner sold his first major screenplay to Warner Bros., it felt like every aspiring screenwriter’s dream.
His script became “Space Cowboys,” directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner.
“It was a 13-year overnight success,” Klausner joked in a conversation with Mark Joseph, producer of the hit film “Reagan,” on his podcast, “The Mark Joseph Show.”
But Hollywood success didn’t guarantee a Hollywood career. Despite the breakthrough, the phone gradually stopped ringing.
Years later, Klausner received a call that would change everything.
Would he be interested in writing a film about Ronald Reagan?
“I thought, ‘This is a God thing,'” he recalled. “How fast can I get there?”
Success isn’t always permanent
Klausner’s career followed a path familiar to many writers. After the success of “Space Cowboys,” he spent years writing projects for major studios before watching many disappear into what Hollywood calls “development hell.”
Some scripts were rewritten by committees. Others were shelved altogether.
Then came an unexpected realization.
“As I got older,” he said, “I kind of got known as maybe being a little too squeaky clean – maybe religious, maybe conservative.”
“It wasn’t nasty. I just stopped getting the calls.”
Eventually, Klausner and his family left California for Tennessee, where he quietly began rebuilding both his life and career.
A 15-year journey
That move coincided with Mark Joseph’s invitation to tackle what would become one of the longest screenwriting projects of Klausner’s career.
Unlike most biographical films, “Reagan” would attempt to dramatize more than 70 years of one man’s life.
“The movie was all about character,” Klausner said.
For him, the challenge wasn’t simply recounting historical events, but understanding who Ronald Reagan really was beneath the headlines. That meant years of research, interviews and countless conversations before the first draft ever emerged.
Writing through an adversary’s eyes
One of the screenplay’s defining ideas came early in development. Rather than allowing Reagan to narrate his own story, Joseph suggested telling it through the perspective of a retired Soviet intelligence officer.
The concept immediately resonated with Klausner. “I thought, ‘That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.'”
The fictional KGB officer, eventually portrayed by Jon Voight, became the film’s narrative anchor, allowing audiences to experience Reagan through the eyes of someone who initially viewed him as an enemy.
Cutting an epic down to size
Klausner’s original screenplay stretched well beyond 200 pages. Reducing it to a theatrical feature meant sacrificing scenes he still considers among his favorites.
Entire chapters of Reagan’s radio career disappeared. Personal relationships were condensed. Other moments vanished simply because there wasn’t enough time.
“You’ve got to find the thread,” Klausner said. For “Reagan,” that thread became the 40th president’s lifelong confrontation with communism. Everything else had to support it – or go.
Dennis Quaid’s transformation
Watching Dennis Quaid become Ronald Reagan remains one of Klausner’s favorite memories from production.
Quaid, he said, resisted the temptation to imitate Reagan’s mannerisms too closely.
Instead, he searched for something deeper.
“I’ve had people tell me they forgot they were watching an actor,” Klausner said. “They felt like they were watching Reagan.”
He was equally impressed by Quaid’s professionalism, recalling moments when the actor effortlessly adjusted dialogue or entire scenes with almost no preparation.
Filming during a pandemic
Production took place during one of Hollywood’s most unusual periods. COVID restrictions eliminated nearly all of the normal camaraderie of filmmaking. Cast and crew largely traveled between their hotel rooms and the set. Restaurants were closed. Social gatherings disappeared.
Yet Klausner believes the circumstances produced something unexpected.
“There was a feeling that this movie mattered,” he said. “Everybody felt like we were trying to make something important.”
The third act
Today Klausner finds himself reflecting less on Hollywood and more on what comes after professional success.
He’s writing a book called “The Long Game,” arguing that life is not over once careers slow down or children leave home. Instead, he believes those years can become life’s most meaningful chapter.
He points to Reagan as his model.
Reagan didn’t become president until age 69.
“For me,” Klausner said, “his finest hour was Act Three.”
More than politics
Although “Reagan” inevitably sparked debate, Klausner insists the film was never intended as a partisan political statement.
Instead, he hopes audiences remember something simpler and deeper.
“Decency,” he said. “Respect.” He points to Reagan’s willingness to disagree with political opponents without treating them as enemies.
“It’s OK to disagree,” Klausner said. “Can we all just find the common ground?”
With the new “Director’s Cut” of “Reagan” – featuring 10 minutes of new footage – in select theaters now, Klausner sees the film as more than the culmination of a 15-year writing journey.
It’s proof that careers – and lives – don’t always unfold on schedule. Sometimes the most important work arrives after the industry thinks your best days are behind you.
Sometimes, as Ronald Reagan’s own story suggests, the third act becomes the one people remember most.
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