He’s our first humorist his personality is obviously wonderful and complicated. he never, ever untethered that individual search for success and fortune from a civic responsibility, which I think the people who laud him for that up-from-the-bootstraps forget, that he always had a civic component.

It’s like, why is your best friend your best friend? But I think you’re drawn to Franklin for a number of reasons: He seems accessible in a way that most of the other so-called “founders” aren’t he’s an extraordinary polymath - the list of his accomplishments is just staggering he’s the best American writer of the 18th century he’s a very successful businessman, we put him on the $100 bill, the largest bill in circulation, to celebrate his up-by-the-bootstraps kind of making it on his own. Well, you fall in love with a story, and the mysteries of that are still arcane to me. Why did you decide to turn your attention to Benjamin Franklin’s life particularly?

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter prior to the release of Benjamin Franklin, Burns discusses why modern events don’t change his telling of history, what viewers in 2022 can learn from Franklin’s story and his take on the recent boom in documentary filmmaking. The story highlights how, despite achieving early success, Franklin (voiced in the film by The Princess Bride and Homeland star Mandy Patinkin) held to the Enlightenment principles of continuing to learn and evolve throughout his life, especially during his time as a diplomat and revolutionary. They also note that Franklin initially was a strong advocate for the American colonies remaining with Britain until he changed positions, championing the Revolution. When you are living life as big and as large as Franklin, writ out,” says Burns.īurns, writer Dayton Duncan (who also penned past Burns projects The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and The Dust Bowl) and a host of expert talking heads like historian and Rutgers University professor Erica Dunbar and Benjamin Franklin: An American Life author Walter Isaacson highlight Franklin’s ownership of slaves despite his self-professed quest for “moral perfection” (very late in life, he became an abolitionist). We are - all of us, if we’re honest - a bundle of failings and successes. Sony Pictures Classics Lands Carlos Santana Docīurns’ new two-part Benjamin Franklin, with the first part premiering on PBS on Monday, dwells on the inconsistencies and complications in Franklin’s story that, in the filmmaker’s estimation, make him so human.

Benjamin franklin an american life