The screenwriter of the “Reagan” film said that diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines disqualified his film from being considered for the best movie category in the Oscars.
The biopic about Ronald Reagan’s life starred Dennis Quaid but screenwriter Howard Klausner accused the awards organization of discriminating against the movie based on race.
‘We didn’t seriously expect to be nominated for anything by Hollywood in this cultural climate — it’s just sadness.’
“I think the situation speaks for itself. There’s not really anger and indignation among those of us who made this film, we didn’t seriously expect to be nominated for anything by Hollywood in this cultural climate — it’s just sadness, really,” said Klausner in an email to Fox News Digital.
On Sunday, the film “Anora” won best picture. The movie is about a sex worker in New York who marries a Russian oligarch on a whim. It also won five other Oscars. “Reagan” was not nominated for any Oscar.
“What has become of the magnificent Dream Factory that once was Hollywood?” Klausner continued. “Once upon a time it spoke to the heart and dreams of pretty much everybody, and the leaders and luminaries of the 20th century industry intuitively seemed to ‘get’ the middle of the country as well as the cultural elite.”
The film’s producer Mark Joseph noted that “Reagan” had a massive disparity between the 98% approval from audiences compared to the 18% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Klausner went on to say he left Hollywood in order to pursue making films for normal audiences rather than the audience that the industry prefers.
“I left Hollywood a few years ago to write and produce ‘heartland films’ just like this one. But I love what we once were as an industry, as a voice in the culture. And truly believe we can be that again,” he concluded.
“I just really lament the truth in what a very highly placed studio executive told me recently,” he added. “‘Now we primarily make movies for 10% of the population.’
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