The city of Guthrie served as a filming ground for the yet-to-be-released film “Reagan” toward the end of 2020.
The film is a biopic spanning the childhood and presidency of 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Reagan served two terms as president and planned to have an active post-presidential life, but disclosed in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease earlier in the year. He died at his home on June 5 2004.
The film stars Dennis Quaid as Reagan, Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Jon Voight as Viktor Novikov – a Soviet KGB agent tasked with tracking Reagan. The film is directed by Sean McNamara, who also directed films such as Soul Surfer and The Miracle Season.
“Reagan” is an independent film, a movie produced without the funding of a major film studio, with a budget of $35 million – more than many wide-release films. It was filmed primarily in Guthrie at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Oklahoma Avenue. The temple served as a makeshift studio in which the production crew built sets and often used the indoor and outdoor architecture as a natural location.
“Reagan” also spent $40,000 on local labor, including police services, landscaping, electricians and cleaning services, $30,000 on expendables, which includes anything from hoses, wood, trash, bags, batteries and other materials.
“Reagan” spent $37,000 in Guthrie on lodging for housing rentals, including four months for the director and three months for the film’s producer at a bed and breakfast. The production also paid for hotel rooms for 95 actors and more than 65 crew members. However, the film only provided lodging for cast and crew members who were from outside a certain radius of the production, so there is a possibility that many also paid for lodging in Guthrie out of their own pockets.
Approximately $20,000 was spent on storage for props and equipment and an unknown amount of money was spent on food allowances for crew members.
Overall, “Reagan” spent an estimated $430,000 dollars in Guthrie alone to film the movie.
“Reagan’s” production injected nearly a million dollars directly into Guthrie’s economy. The film spent $250,000 in location costs, which includes rentals for sets, parking and inconvenience fees.
It is estimated that “Reagan” completed 75 percent of its intended filming in Guthrie due to COVID-19 issues and weather complications, which means if filming restarts in the Springs as scheduled, the film’s economic impact on Guthrie could be even greater.