On A Role
MICHAEL DOUGLAS AS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
THE LEGENDARY STAR ON WIGGING UP TO PLAY A FOUNDING FATHER
Coming over all nautical as the titular Founding Father in Franklin; With Noah Jupe as Benjamin’s precocious grandson Temple; Stacy Schiff’s book on which the series is based; Michael’s father Kirk with Janet Leigh in The Vikings (1958).
THE HISTORY
Amazingly, the 79-year-old Douglas has hitherto shunned projects set in the distant past. “I’ve never really done a period project,” he ponders. “Though, at the very, very beginning of my career, I did something on television (1972’s American Revolution: The Impossible War). It was one of the reasons I wanted to do this, because I’m in a phase where I’m doing things I never did before.” Perhaps his father Kirk’s famous historical epics made him want to carve out his own niche with more modern stories? “You know, it’s possible. I used to watch him practicising his quick-draws, or working the oars on The Vikings. And there may have been a feeling of, ‘Man, how can I ever do what my father can do? So I’ll go this way…”