Angel Studios’ upcoming movie THE BRINK OF WAR highlights the power of dialogue to bring peace as it explores the conversations between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during the Cold War.
“President Reagan races against time to salvage a deal with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that could dismantle nuclear arsenals — or ignite disaster. With pressure mounting from advisors, intelligence agencies, and history itself, every word spoken brings the world closer to peace…or destruction,” a synopsis reads.
Michael Russell Gunn wrote and directed the movie, which stars J.K. Simmons as George Shultz, Jeff Daniels as Ronald Reagan and Jared Harris as Mikhail Gorbachev.
“The reason I wanted to do it really, truly, was because I think these days we’ve gotten so good at yelling at one another that we are not talking anymore,” Gunn told Fox News Digital. “What blew me away about the story when Secretary Schultz told me about it was that these were two guys who had every reason to hate each other, had every reason to be enemies, and they sat down in a room together and tried to make a better world.”
Shultz, Reagan’s Secretary of State, was instrumental in the early-on preparation for THE BRINK OF WAR.
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“We spent hours and hours together. I interviewed him. He gave me the declassified transcripts that informed the script. He’s a hero of mine. The movie is dedicated to him, for him, for his public service,” Gunn said.
Five conversations between Reagan and Gorbachev took place in the late 1980s as the leaders developed trust in each other. Their meetings eventually lead to several peace treaties, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which meant that both the Soviets and the US had to liquidate several nuclear weapons.
“For the first time on the highest level we and the Soviets came close to an agreement on real reductions of both strategic and intermediate-range weapons,” Reagan said at the time. “…we were in sight of an historic agreement on completely eliminating the threat of offensive ballistic missiles by 1996. I can’t help remembering being told just a few years ago that radical arms reduction was an impossible dream, but now it’s on the agenda for both sides.”
Gunn is convinced that what happened between Reagan and Gorbachev should be an example for how we handle conflict today.
“I think the lesson for today is that we have to continue dialogue,” he expressed. “As tough as it gets, I want people to walk out of the theater with hope that if we engage, if we’re strong, if we are seeking peace in a genuine way and we find a genuine partner that we can make a better safer world even today.”
Ultimately, THE BRINK OF WAR uses the historic Cold War negotiations between Reagan and Gorbachev to deliver a powerful message about the vital necessity of open dialogue and diplomacy in an effort to resolve conflicts.
THE BRINK OF WAR debuts in theaters Aug. 14.
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