The 80s were a historic time with iconic movies, enduring music, the Cold War, Ronald Reagan and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It was a time without the convenience of personal computers, the internet, cell phones and social media, yet a fond nostalgia remains over the decade.

A brief return to those times was in the cards recently for a local man.

The scene was set for 1983 as President Ronald Reagan, portrayed by Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid, gave his historic “evil empire” speech to the National Association of Evangelicals and Mark Maehs sat on stage, only feet away.

With encouragement from his wife, Deborah, Maehs applied to be an extra and landed a couple of roles for the motion picture, “Reagan,” which is being filmed in Guthrie at the Masonic temple.

The roles required men wear a suit size 46 or smaller. Maehs said he wouldn’t have been able to even apply for the parts a year ago.

“Last year, my wife and I joined a healthy living program and I have lost 89 pounds,” he said.

“Ironically, the suit I wore in the film was one I bought in 1989, but hadn’t worn in probably 28 years,” he added.

His wife has also lost weight since joining the program, he said.

“Reagan” is a film which chronicles the life of Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th president of the United States, from his childhood, it stars Quaid, Penelope Anne Miller, John Voight and other Hollywood actors and is directed by Sean McNamara and produced by Mark Joseph.

“It is amazing how much Quaid looks like Reagan for the movie and has the characteristics of his voice perfected,” Maehs said.

“You would swear Reagan was in the room,” he added.

Not only cast as an evangelical during the “evil empire” speech, Maehs also played a part in the Washington press corps.

In a scene where Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were signing an agreement, Maehs said he was across the table taking photographs as a member of the press.

An enormous amount of work went into every scene and the amount of people it took to coordinate everything was huge, Maehs said. There were probably 100 movie extras the days he was on the set, in addition to all the movie production employees.

“Their attention to detail was so incredible,” he said and added, “the editing must be a phenomenally huge job.”

With three days of actual filming for his parts, Maehs said the majority of the time was spent waiting, but he met a lot of interesting people during that time.

“I met lots of people who had done this on a lark, just like I did,” he said.

During one day of filming, Maehs said he shot three scenes that took between 20 to 45 minutes each and was on location for 12 hours.

Over a period of about three weeks, Maehs made multiple trips to Guthrie for COVID tests and wardrobe fittings, as well as days of filming.

“It was a lot of fun, Maehs said, and added, “I would definitely do it again.”

An educator for 34 years, Maehs taught science at Kingfisher High School for 26 years and has been retired for six years. His wife also contributed 22 years at Kingfisher Middle School as a library media specialist.

In retirement, Maehs said he enjoys traveling, hunting, fishing and hiking.

They have two grown children and eight grandchildren.

When asked if he had any advice for others wanting to try out for a movie extras casting call, he said, “Go for it…it’s easy and it’s fun.

“I would encourage anyone that is interested to give it a try.”

One of the best things about it, he said, is that it was a new experience and he was able to do something he had always considered, but never done.

“Hopefully not every scene I was in will end up on the cutting room floor, but you just don’t know, ” Maehs said.

“It will be interesting to see the finished product.”