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Ken Burns has become not just a historical storyteller; he is a brand, a prolific creative force. When he has project arriving on the PBS network, all desire an interview.

He participated in “an astonishing number of podcasts”, he notes, approaching the conclusion of nine-month promotional tour featuring numerous locations, numerous film showings and hundreds of interviews. “There seems to be a podcast for every citizen, and I believe I’ve appeared on most of them.”

Thankfully Burns is a force of nature, equally articulate in interviews as he is prolific while filmmaking. The veteran director has traveled from Monticello to The Joe Rogan Experience to talk about a career-defining series: this historical epic, a monumental six-part, 12-hour documentary series that consumed a substantial portion of his recent years and premiered recently on PBS.

Defiantly Traditional Approach

Comparable to methodical preparation in an age of fast food, this documentary series intentionally classic, reminiscent of The World at War as opposed to modern online content new media formats.

However, for the filmmaker, whose professional life documenting American historical narratives spanning various American subjects, its origin story represents more than another topic but foundational. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein recently, and she concurred: this represents our most significant project Burns states by phone from New York.

Extensive Historical Investigation

The filmmaking team plus scripting partner Geoffrey Ward drew upon thousands of books and primary source materials. Multiple academic experts, representing diverse viewpoints, contributed scholarly insights in conjunction with distinguished researchers from a range of other fields such as enslavement studies, indigenous peoples’ narratives plus colonial history.

Signature Documentary Style

The style of the series will appear similar to viewers of Burns’ earlier work. Its distinctive style included methodical photographic exploration across still photos, abundant historical musical selections and actors interpreting primary sources.

This period represented the filmmaker cemented his status; decades afterwards, now the doyen of documentaries, he can attract any actor he chooses. Participating with Burns at a New York gathering, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “When Ken Burns calls, you say ‘Yes.’”

Remarkable Ensemble

The extended filming period proved beneficial in terms of flexibility. Recordings took place in studios, in relevant places through digital platforms, a method utilized amid COVID restrictions. Burns explains the experience with performer Josh Brolin, who scheduled a brief window during his travels to voice his character as George Washington prior to departing to subsequent commitments.

Brolin is joined by multiple distinguished artists, Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Paul Giamatti, diverse creative professionals, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Maya Hawke, accomplished dramatic artists, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Tobias Menzies, skilled dramatic performers, television and film stars, Dan Stevens, Meryl Streep.

Burns adds: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast ever assembled for any movie or television show. Their work is exceptional. Their celebrity status wasn’t the criteria. I became frustrated when someone asked, ‘So why the celebrities?’. I responded, ‘These are performers.’ They are among the world’s best performers and they can bring this stuff alive.”

Historical Complexity

Nevertheless, no contemporary observers remain, modern media required the filmmakers to rely extensively on primary texts, integrating the first-person voices of numerous historical characters. This methodology permitted to show spectators not just the famous founders of the founders but also to “dozens of others essential to the narrative, many of whom remain visually unknown.

Burns additionally pursued his individual interest for geography and cartography. “I have great affection for cartography,” he comments, “and there are more maps in this project compared to previous works across my complete filmography.”

Worldwide Consequences

The team filmed at nearly a hundred historical locations across North America and in London to preserve geographical atmosphere and partnered extensively with living history participants. Various aspects converge to tell a story more bloody, multifaceted and world-changing than the one taught in schools.

The revolution, it contends, represented more than local dispute over land, taxation and representation. Instead the film portrays a brutal conflict that eventually involved multiple global powers and unexpectedly manifested described as “mankind’s greatest hopes”.

Brother Against Brother

What had begun as a jumble of grievances directed toward Britain by colonial residents in 13 fractious colonies soon descended into a vicious internal war, setting brother against brother and creating local enmities. During the second installment, the historian Alan Taylor observes: “The greatest misconception concerning independence struggle involves believing it represented a unifying experience for colonists. It leaves out the reality that colonists battled fellow colonists.”

Historical Complexity

In his view, the revolutionary narrative that “for most of us suffers from excessive romance and nostalgia and lacks depth and insufficiently honors the historical reality, and all the participants and the extensive brutality.

The historian argues, a revolution that proclaimed the revolutionary principle of fundamental personal liberties; a vicious internal conflict, pitting Patriots against Loyalists; and a worldwide engagement, another installment in a sequence of struggles among European powers for the “prize of North America”.

Unpredictable Historical Moments

Burns also wanted {to rediscover the