Dennis Quaid is an award-winning actor, musician, husband, father and proud patriot.
Quaid, who will soon star as the 40th president of the United States in a biopic about Ronald Reagan’s life, said he feels “lucky” to be an American and has hope for the future of the country despite extenuating circumstances.
“I was born in the greatest country ever to be on the Earth, to tell you the truth,” Quaid exclusively told Fox News Digital.
AMERICAN STARS CELEBRATE THEIR LOVE FOR THE USA THIS INDEPENDENCE DAY
“When you look at it, as flawed as it is, it’s better than everything else that has come before. And, you know, I really believe in the wisdom of the American people as a whole.”
Quaid added, “We are the hope of the world, still.”
He gave pause and offered a warning to his fellow citizens on the Fourth of July.
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“We just need to get our act together and start, you know, believing in ourselves again, because I believe that the president reflects the people,” Quaid said. “We kind of get the president we deserve.”
Quaid reflected on his own work in the upcoming biopic and how similar Reagan’s run to the presidency mirrored issues Americans face today.
“These times today are very much like what times were before Reagan took office,” he said. “You look back, you know, Iran had our hostages, gas prices … our struggle with the Soviet Union. You know, a nuclear war was about to happen back then, and inflation.
“Interest rates were 20% to buy a house. We were, as a nation, we felt deflated.”
Quaid added, “We felt there was this malaise, that we were declining.” He noted that Reagan “coming along” helped the American people.
“He helped us feel our purpose in this world, and … what a successful presidency it was,” Quaid said. “And I’m just proud to be an American.”
Dennis questioned his decision to portray the president after he was initially offered the role more than six years ago.
WATCH: AMERICAN STARS CELEBRATE THEIR LOVE FOR THE USA THIS INDEPENDENCE DAY
“I didn’t say no, and I didn’t say yes because, really, fear,” Quaid said. “Reagan was my favorite president personally, and he was also such a recognizable figure around the world, sort of like Muhammad Ali. Everybody knew what he looked like, sounded like, and so that was a pretty scary proposition.”
He added, “It was about feeling like I was going to be judged and feeling unworthy. He was the great communicator and all that. But I didn’t want to do an impersonation of him. I wanted to really kind of get to the core of who he was as a person. So, I put off saying yes.”
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It wasn’t until Quaid visited Reagan’s Southern California ranch that he got a real idea about who the man truly was behind the decades of stories.
“He was not a rich man, and there was a humility about him that was kind of the bedrock of who he was,” Quaid said. “And I felt him. I felt this core there. They had the ‘Western White House.’ It was bought by a circle of friends after he passed to keep it as it was. And their clothes, he and Nancy’s clothes were in the closet still, just like they were.”
Quaid was impressed by the small 1,100-square-foot home with “two single beds that were zip-tied together” to make one king-sized bed in one of the rooms of the modest two-bedroom house.
He noticed “three remote controls like back in the ’80s when you had to use three remote controls to get the TV to work.”
“Then, a note from Nancy, you know, on how to do it,” he said of working the remote controls. “Also just the land itself. You could see that it was him that did all the work there. You could feel it. And that’s when, after that, I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do this,’ because I found a way in.”
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From there, Quaid was committed to learning everything he could about the man from Dixon, Illinois, who captivated audiences as a Hollywood star only to turn his life over to public service in his late 40s after being discharged from the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1945.
“I talked to people who were close to him, you know, who knew him really well,” Quaid said. “They all said there was a part of Ronald Reagan that was unknowable, that was very private, that you just couldn’t penetrate. I think even Nancy felt that to a certain extent. You know, this is the great communicator.
WATCH: DENNIS QUAID TALKS ABOUT PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN’S ABILITY TO BE A ‘GREAT COMMUNICATOR’
“I think that part of him had to do with his faith, that to go to a place where he had that personal relationship with his maker. And I think that was his guiding light. He was a man who, he governed as president – and also governor of California – on principle, not on the winds of change, you know, or what was popular at the time or trending.
“Sometimes, those principles were very much in the minority, but it was those principles that guided him, that he was able to win the Cold War against the Soviets.”
In addition to Quaid, Jon Voight, Penelope Ann Miller and David Henrie round out the ensemble cast.
Tickets are available beginning July 4. “Reagan” releases in theaters nationwide Aug. 30.
