In 1986, the USA and the Soviet Union had been locked in the ebb and flow of the Cold War since the end of World War II. Through a variety of proxy wars, big and small, each superpower attempted to edge the other out of its international power position. Because the conflict lasted so long, multiple generations of leaders had the chance to steer their ships toward more peaceful solutions. Instead of doing that, each side built up nuclear arms and weaponry, and by the mid-1980s, US actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan dominated American minds with his aggressive stance, for better or worse. On the other side of the world, Mikhail Gorbachev ruled the USSR. Both leaders eyed the other as enemies, but a hint of mutual admiration seemed to linger.
Director Michael Russell Gunn’s Brink of War examines one of the briefest yet most captivating attempts at Cold War peace: a secret meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev aimed at slowing, and then altogether stopping, the development of intermediate-range nuclear weapons. Hollywood legends Jeff Daniels and Jared Harris play Reagan and Gorbachev, respectively.
That Shelf’s Alex Southey sat down with Gunn and acting royalty Harris to chat about the ways Brink of War is even more relevant upon its release than when Gunn first cooked up the idea for a script, and whether or not prosthetics help or hurt an actor inhabiting a role mentally.
Watch the interview below now:
