Ken Burns on His American Revolution Project: ‘We Won’t Work on a More Important Film’
The acclaimed documentarian has evolved into beyond being a historical storyteller; he represents an institution, an unparalleled production entity. When he has documentary series premiering on the television, everyone seeks his attention.
He participated in “more fucking podcasts than I ever thought possible”, he remarks, approaching the conclusion of nine-month promotional tour comprising four dozen cities, 80 screenings plus countless media sessions. “There seems to be a podcast for every citizen, and I believe I’ve appeared on most of them.”
Fortunately Burns is a force of nature, as expressive in conversation as he is productive while filmmaking. At seventy-two has traveled from prestigious venues to popular podcasts to discuss a career-defining series: The American Revolution, an extensive six-episode, twelve-hour film project that consumed a substantial portion of his recent years and arrived recently through the public broadcasting service.
Classic Documentary Style
Comparable to methodical preparation amidst instant gratification culture, Burns’ latest project is defiantly traditional, more redolent of traditional war documentaries than the era of online content audio documentaries.
For the documentarian, who has built a career documenting American historical narratives including baseball, country music, jazz and national parks, the revolutionary period is not just another subject but fundamental. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein the other day, and she agreed: we won’t work on a more important film Burns reflects from his New York base.
Massive Research Effort
Burns and his collaborators plus scripting partner Geoffrey Ward referenced numerous historical volumes plus archival documents. Numerous scholars, spanning age and perspective, offered expert analysis in conjunction with distinguished researchers covering various specialties including slavery, first nations scholarship plus colonial history.
Characteristic Narrative Method
The film’s approach will appear similar to devotees of The Civil War. The characteristic technique featured methodical photographic exploration through archival photographs, abundant historical musical selections and actors voicing historical documents.
This period represented Burns built his legacy; a generation later, now the doyen of documentaries, he seems able to recruit any actor he chooses. Collaborating with the filmmaker at a recent event, acclaimed writer Lin-Manuel Miranda commented: “When Ken Burns calls, you say ‘Yes.’”
Extraordinary Talent
The lengthy creation process proved beneficial concerning availability. Filming occurred at professional facilities, on location and remotely via Zoom, an approach adopted amid COVID restrictions. The director describes collaborating with actor Josh Brolin, who scheduled a brief window while in Georgia to voice his character as George Washington then continuing to his next engagement.
Additional performers feature multiple distinguished artists, respected performing veterans, emerging and established stars, multiple generations of actors, celebrated film and stage performers, British and American talent, versatile character actors, television and film stars, plus additional notable names.
Burns adds: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast gathered for any production. Their contributions are remarkable. Their celebrity status wasn’t the criteria. It irritated me when questioned, about the prominent cast. I go, ‘These are actors.’ They represent global acting excellence and they animate historical material.”
Multifaceted Story
However, the lack of surviving participants, modern media compelled the production to rely extensively on the written word, combining the first-person voices of nearly 200 individual historic figures. This allowed them to introduce audiences not only to the “bold-faced names” of that era plus numerous additional crucial to understanding, many of whom remain visually unknown.
Burns additionally pursued his particular enthusiasm for maps and spatial representation. “I love maps,” he notes, “and there are more maps in this project compared to previous works throughout my entire career.”
Worldwide Consequences
The production crew recorded across multiple important places in various American regions and in London to preserve geographical atmosphere and collaborated substantially with living history participants. All these elements combine to depict events more violent, complex and globally significant versus conventional understanding.
The revolution, it contends, represented more than local dispute concerning territory, taxes and political voice. Rather, the series depicts a violent confrontation that eventually involved multiple global powers and unexpectedly manifested what it calls “mankind’s greatest hopes”.
Brother Against Brother
Early dissatisfaction and objections directed toward Britain by colonial residents in 13 fractious colonies quickly evolved into a vicious internal war, setting brother against brother and creating local enmities. In episode two, the historian Alan Taylor observes: “The primary misunderstanding concerning independence struggle is that it was something a unifying experience for colonists. This omits the fact that Americans fought each other.”
Sophisticated Interpretation
In his view, the independence account that “typically is overwhelmed by emotionalism and idealization and lacks depth and insufficiently honors actual events, every individual involved and the incredible violence of it.
The historian argues, an uprising that declared the revolutionary principle of the unalienable rights of people; a brutal civil war, separating rebels and supporters; and a global war, another installment in a sequence of struggles among European powers for dominance in the New World.
Uncertain Historical Outcomes
The filmmaker also sought {to rediscover the
