Michael Douglas Will Play The Legendary Benjamin Franklin For Apple Series
While many of us are still singing the songs of "Hamilton," there's plenty of room for a new series about one of America's other founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. The man whose face is forever emblazoned on the $100 bill will be brought to life by the talented Michael Douglas for a new limited event series from Apple TV+. The series, announced today, will be written by "John Adams" scribe Kirk Ellis and helmed by "Boardwalk Empire" director Tim Van Patten. The series will be based on the book "A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America" by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff.
It's all about the Benjamin
The drama series will explore "the thrilling story of one of the greatest gambles of Benjamin Franklin's career." During the Revolutionary War, while the future United States was trying to gain independence from Great Britain, Franklin helped negotiate the Franco-American alliance of 1778. He spent eight years in France on his mission to ensure the French would help supply the revolutionaries with weapons and would not agree to peace with England unless the colonies came to a peace as well. Franklin was 70 years old and didn't have any diplomatic training, but he managed to convince a king to back him and the anti-monarchy colonies. Without France's help, Americans still might be servants of the Crown.
Here's the official synopsis:
At age 70, without any diplomatic training, Franklin convinced France – an absolute monarchy – to underwrite America's experiment in democracy. By virtue of his fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues, all while engineering the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and the final peace with England of l783. The eight-year French mission stands as Franklin's most vital service to his country, without which America would not have won the Revolution.
Tony Krantz, Richard Plelper, Mark Mostyn, and Michael Douglas will all executive produce along with Stacy Schiff, who serves as co-executive producer. The series is a co-production between ITV Studios America and Apple Studios. Douglas recently starred in the Netflix comedy series "The Kominsky Method," and will soon reprise his role as Hank Pym in Marvel's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," hopefully heading to theaters in Summer 2023.
The Franklin limited series sounds like it's going to be catnip for Dads with history degrees, and Douglas should be knockout as one of America's most brilliant minds.