New Angel Studios Drama Revisits Reagan-Gorbachev Reykjavik Summit

The Brink of War, produced by Angel Studios, offers a tightly scripted look at the October 1986 Reykjavik summit where President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev spent over 30 hours negotiating nuclear arms limits. Director Michael Russell Gunn built the screenplay from declassified meeting records and insights from former Secretary of State George Shultz, filming largely inside the actual Höfði house where the talks occurred.

Jeff Daniels embodies Reagan’s resolve, while Jared Harris delivers a nuanced Gorbachev, and the film underscores how the Strategic Defense Initiative complicated a proposed 50 percent cut in nuclear arsenals. Subplots feature Raisa Gorbachev confronting Nancy Reagan and a human-rights request involving the sister of Soviet defector Mstislav Rostopovich. Although the summit did not produce an immediate agreement, the dialogue set the stage for the 1987 INF Treaty, marking a turning point in Cold War relations. The release follows Angel Studios’ recent string of historically themed movies aimed at a broad audience.