The Documentary Legend on His Latest Revolutionary War Film Series: ‘We Won’t Work on a More Important Film’

Ken Burns has evolved into more than a filmmaker; his name is a franchise, an unparalleled production entity. With each new documentary series premiering on the PBS network, everybody wants an interview.

Burns has done “an astonishing number of podcasts”, he notes, nearing the end of his extensive publicity circuit that included 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.”

Fortunately the filmmaker is incredibly dynamic, as expressive in conversation as he is prolific in the editing room. The veteran director has traveled from Monticello to mainstream media outlets to discuss a career-defining series: this historical epic, an extensive six-episode, twelve-hour film project that dominated a substantial portion of his recent years and arrived recently on PBS.

Timeless Filmmaking Method

Like slow cooking in today’s rapid-consumption era, The American Revolution proudly conventional, more redolent of historical documentary classics as opposed to modern online content audio documentaries.

But for Burns, who has built a career exploring national heritage including baseball, country music, jazz and national parks, the revolutionary period transcends ordinary historical coverage but foundational. “As I mentioned to directing partner Sarah Botstein during our discussions, and she shared this view: we won’t work on a more important film Burns reflects by phone from New York.

Massive Research Effort

Burns and his collaborators and screenwriter Geoffrey Ward utilized countless written sources plus archival documents. Dozens of historians, covering various ideological backgrounds, contributed scholarly insights along with leading scholars from a range of other fields including slavery, Native American history plus colonial history.

Characteristic Narrative Method

The style of the series will feel familiar to viewers of Burns’ earlier work. The unique approach featured slow pans and zooms through archival photographs, extensive employment of contemporary scores featuring talent reading diaries, letters and speeches.

This period represented Burns established his reputation; decades afterwards, now the doyen of documentaries, he seems able to recruit numerous talented actors. Participating with Burns during a recent appearance, acclaimed writer Lin-Manuel Miranda commented: “A call from Ken Burns commands immediate acceptance.”

Extraordinary Talent

The extended filming period provided advantages in terms of flexibility. Filming occurred in studios, at historical sites and remotely via Zoom, a tool embraced during the pandemic. The director describes working with Josh Brolin, who scheduled a brief window during his travels to perform his role as George Washington before flying off to his next engagement.

The cast includes numerous acclaimed actors, respected performing veterans, diverse creative professionals, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Maya Hawke, Samuel L Jackson, Michael Keaton, Tracy Letts, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Tobias Menzies, skilled dramatic performers, Wendell Pierce, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber, Dan Stevens, Meryl Streep.

Burns emphasizes: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast ever assembled for any movie or television show. Their work is exceptional. Selection wasn’t based on fame. I got so angry when somebody said, about the prominent cast. I go, ‘These are actors.’ They’re the finest actors in the world and they vitalize these narratives.”

Nuanced Narrative

Still, no contemporary observers remain, photography and newsreels compelled the production to lean heavily on historical documents, combining the first-person voices of nearly 200 individual historic figures. This allowed them to introduce audiences not just the famous founders of the founders along with multiple crucial to understanding, several participants lack visual representation.

Burns additionally pursued his individual interest for geography and cartography. “I have great affection for cartography,” he observes, “featuring increased geographical representation in this film than in all the other films across my complete filmography.”

Worldwide Consequences

The production crew recorded across multiple important places across North America plus English locations to capture the landscape’s character and worked extensively with living history participants. Various aspects converge to tell a story more brutal, complicated and internationally important versus conventional understanding.

The documentary argues, transcended provincial conflict over land, taxation and representation. Instead the film portrays a brutal conflict that eventually involved multiple global powers and surprisingly represented what it calls “mankind’s greatest hopes”.

Brother Against Brother

Early dissatisfaction and objections leveled at London by far-flung British subjects across thirteen rebellious territories quickly evolved into a bloody domestic struggle, dividing communities and households and creating local enmities. During the second installment, the historian Alan Taylor observes: “The main misapprehension about the American Revolution involves believing it represented a unifying experience for colonists. It leaves out the reality that it was a civil war among Americans.”

Historical Complexity

For him, the revolutionary narrative that “typically suffers from excessive romance and wistful remembrance and remains shallow and doesn’t have the respect actual events, every individual involved and the widespread bloodshed.”

It was, he contends, a revolution that proclaimed the world-changing idea of inherent human rights; a bloody domestic struggle, pitting Patriots against Loyalists; and a global war, another installment in a sequence of wars between imperial nations for dominance in the New World.

Unpredictable Historical Moments

Burns also wanted {to rediscover the