MICHAEL DOUGLAS IS about to do something. The Wall Street and Basic Instinct star has taken a sharp turn into prestige historical drama by playing none other than nobleman Benjamin Franklin in Franklin, Apple TV+’s new limited series.
The eight-episode project sees Douglas’s founding father traveling to France in 1776 to convince France to support the American war for independence. It’s a vital story of one of the most important figures in American history, but one that he probably doesn’t know much (if anything) about.
The show, which features Douglas not only as its titular star but also as a producer, comes as the 79-year-old Academy Award winner is in a phase of trying new things in his career (other recent projects include the Netflix comedy The Kominsky Method). and several appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as genius inventor/scientist Hank Pym).
But it also gives you the opportunity to draw some parallels between America’s childhood era and our current landscape.
“I gained a new appreciation for democracy and realized how close we came to losing it,” he told Men’s Health in an interview. “It made me realize that without France’s help at that time, we wouldn’t have the United States. “I wouldn’t be there.”
The now-famous Franklin set out to secure French money, supplies, ships, and soldiers in the Revolutionary War. But in case your memory of American (or European!) history from high school is difficult these days, or if you want to get the nitty-gritty of Franklin’s saga across the pond for any other reason, here you go an explanation about the true saga behind Franklin.
Why did Benjamin Franklin go to France exactly in 1776?
Apple
Let’s back up a bit: Franklin had already earned quite a bit of praise in October 1776, when he set sail for France. “The most distinguished scientific and literary American of the colonial era,” according to the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Historian, he had a storied career as a printer and publisher, author, inventor, scientist, and diplomat. No, he didn’t invent electricity, but he did a lot to help us understand it. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence, approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
But more importantly, at the end of that year of geopolitical change, Franklin became “the first American diplomat.” (He is also, in the words of the National Constitution Center, “America’s first rock star,” although that title is almost definitely figurative.) From 1776 to 1778, he served on a commission charged with obtaining aid from France. French aristocrats and intellectuals were speechless at his arrival (it was the definition of a big deal); Elegant women even adopted the “Franklin hairstyle,” that is, their sartorial choice of wearing a fur hat instead of a wig.
And then what did he achieve?
Apple
Franklin took center stage in the successful effort to align France with the nascent United States, but it was slow. Although France had been secretly supporting the Patriot cause since the war broke out, its leaders did not feel they could officially forge loyalty until American victory was assured.
He finally gained American recognition in the Revolutionary War on December 17, 1777, after the crucial American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in October of that year influenced the French.
Through his diplomatic skill, and probably being an OG influencer, he also sold France an alliance with the 13 states just a few months later, and the countries jointly signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance on February 6 of 1778. of French supplies and more proved, in the rearview mirror of history, to be instrumental to the American victory for independence. (And hey, they gave us the Statue of Liberty in 1885, which is still cool.)
But how franklin Does the show shake?
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Well, according to Rotten Tomatoes, it’s… decent, receiving a score of 68 percent from critics and a score of 67 percent from audiences as of this writing. Most critics agree that Douglas is charismatic (for right and wrong reasons) and that the historical exposition can become stifling.
Perhaps it also benefits Douglas that he is an American playing an American, and not Joaquin Phoenix playing Napoleon via Brooklyn. And perhaps it’s worth keeping an eye on magnetic young actor Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place, Honey Boy), who plays William Temple Franklin, his grandfather’s teenage secretary.
If Jupe can’t solve this Franco-American pact, no one can.
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