There's been talk of a film about the life of Ronald Reagan before, first when his diaries were published and then when a film was planned about one of his most historic moments as President, but nothing has come to the screen as yet.

Today news arrives that a film, simply called Reagan, is under development and could see a release next year, if the funding comes together. Right now the producers are seeking the final budget, securing some initial distribution deals, and beginning to think about a director and actor.

There have been a few mentions of a Ronald Reagan film in the past, but so far his life has only been made into a mini-series that raised a fair degree of controversy.

Back in May of 2007 we heard that the diaries of Ronald Reagan were being published and the inevitable questions arose of whether or not there would be a film of the man's life, after all it's crying out for a film, a Hollywood actor who became President of the United States of America.

In January of 2008 the story was that Ridley Scott was set to direct a film about the Reykjavik Summit, when Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met to discuss the end of the Cold War and the signing of the Nuclear Arms Treaty which started to see the reduction and decommissioning of nuclear arms on both sides.

According to The Hollywood Reporter the mini-series was to be released on CBS until controversy came to the fore about the production and it was transferred to cable on Showtime. The producer of the current film, Mark Joseph, said of the mini-series:

”Only in Hollywood could you make an insulting, condescending movie about a much-loved historical figure, hire an actor who loathes the man, watch it flop and then somehow conclude that Americans don't want to see a movie about him...I watched Americans line up and wait for 10 hours for the simple privilege of passing by his closed casket. They love this man.”

We, and by that I mean the audience, see that sort of thing happen all the time and kill franchises or sequel opportunities. In fact the best place to see it is with television series which are dropped after being broken up, disappearing from schedules from months on end and being thrown around on broadcast days and times.

This film has a script written by Jonas McCord who also has Malice under his belt. He adapted it from two biographies of the man by Paul Kengor, The Crusader and God and Ronald Reagan (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com).

From outside of the U.S. looking in I have to say that I thought Reagan was one of the strongest and most charismatic Presidents the country had, and to name but one achievement, he signed the Nuclear Arms Treaty, doesn't that instantly mark him as one of the most significant Presidents of the country of all time?

I'm curious to see if his own personal diaries will still make a film though, for tracking some of his own insights and views into what happened during some key moments in his life would perhaps be the strongest and most personal film we could see.