Apple releases first look at Michael Douglas in still-untitled Benjamin Franklin series
The series is about Ben Franklin's crucial diplomatic mission to France
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It has become pretty clear in recent… centuries that the whole United States Of America thing has been a disappointing and protracted failure, but there’s still a fun novelty in looking back at the wacky idiots who got us into this mess by failing to put “women should be able to make decisions about their own bodies” and “nobody really needs to own a gun” in the Constitution.
So let’s take a gander at the first promotional image of Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin in Apple TV+’s still-untitled series about Franklin’s diplomatic mission to convince France to help back up America’s attempt to build a democracy. We first heard about the project in February, when we learned about Douglas’ casting and the fact that John Adams’ Kirk Ellis is writing and that Sopranos’ Tim Van Patten is directing, with the series being based on Stacy Schiff’s book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, And The Birth Of America.
But you’re here to see Michael Douglas in a ruffled shirt and long hair, hanging a key from a kite and going to bed early:
Sadly, the key and kite are probably offscreen, but you can tell from the look on his face that this is a man in his ‘70s who woke up too early. Also, while this won’t really come through because of the limitations of this website, the image Apple sent out in a press release is enormously large, so we can click the “actual size” button on the photo and crop out everything but his giant face:
Now that’s a damn face! In addition to this big face, Apple’s press release has some additional cast information, like Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) playing Temple Franklin, Ludivine Sagnier (Lupin) playing Madame Brillon, Thibault de Montalembert (Call My Agent!) playing Vergnees, Daniel Mays (Rogue One) playing Edward Bancroft, Assaad Bouab (The Pursuit Of Love) as Beacumarchais, Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) as John Adams, Jeanne Balibar (Irma Vep) as Helvetius, and Theodore Pellerin (On Becoming A God In Central Florida) as Lafayette (“LAFAYETTE!” like from Hamilton). Note: Apple didn’t bother writing out the full names of those French nobles, so we won’t either.
22 Comments
I suppose you can blame the Founding Fathers for the current predicament, but Franklin immediately recognized the potential for abuse of the system.
Particularly the “if you” part. Franklin was old enough to be some of the other Founding Fathers’ grandfather — he was already in his 80s at the time of the Constitutional Convention and died just three years later.
Man, I hope their wench-and-brothel budget is off the charts for this series.
Oh, Ben Affleck’s in it too?
Although people tend to forget that when Ben was ambassador to France and got the reputation as a womanizer he was a widower. He was quite devoted to his wife earlier.
Oh, I’m not claiming he was unfaithful or anything. I’m saying he laid pipe like a plumber on meth.
and crop out everything but his giant face: Please don’t do that again!
Ben is only 35 here. People used to age different.
I know you’re joking, but it depends when it was set. At the time of the Revolution, Franklin was already elderly and so is plausibly played by Douglas.
Did the makeup department look at his face and say “He’s fine as he is. I don’t think there’s anything we can do here.”
Sadly, the key and kite are probably offscreen, but you can tell from
the look on his face that this is a man in his ‘70s who woke up too
earlyAlthough the use of apostrophes in either case is frowned upon, normally “the ‘70s” is meant to refer to a decade, like the 1970s, or maybe the 1770s in this case. If you mean age, it is generally written “in his 70s”.
Maybe they meant he was in his own personal 1970s, complete with questionable fashion and hair choices, sexual experimentation, and repetitive, annoying music.
God dammit when i get REALLY depressed, I go into my own personal 1970s for a while. My wife knows, just let it run its course.
a disappointing and protracted failureThe A.V. Club!
Serious question: Has Michael Douglas ever played a character that wasn’t an asshole?
I wonder if this will have an odd focus on tooth decay like John Adams.
I will henceforth be referring to this project solely as “The Ben Franklin Hairline Reclamation Project”.
Bingo! Not only had Franklin’s bald spot long since met up with his receeding hairline by that point in his life, he usually wore a fur hat when he was in France. The French loved it because Rousseau also famously wore a fur hat.He wore it both to keep warm and to hide the sores on his scalp that he acquired sailing over from America, probably from the crappy diet people “enjoyed” at sea in those days. Of course, Franklin was savvy enough to keep wearing it when he realized the French press was talking about it.
still-untitled series about Franklin…
All About the Benjamin
If the focus is just on his personal life they could call it “Private Benjamin.”
This could be a badass show if it confronts his ownership of human beings.