The Renowned Filmmaker discussing His Revolutionary War Film Series: ‘We Won’t Work on a More Important Film’

Ken Burns has become more than a documentarian; his name is a franchise, a one-man industrial complex. With each new documentary series arriving on the PBS network, everybody wants his attention.

Burns has done “more fucking podcasts than I ever thought possible”, he says, wrapping up of his marathon promotional journey that included 40 cities, 80 screenings plus countless media sessions. “With podcasts numbering in the hundreds of millions, I feel I’ve participated in a substantial portion.”

Happily Burns is a force of nature, equally articulate in interviews as he is accomplished in the editing room. The 72-year-old has gone everywhere from historical sites to popular podcasts to talk about one of his most ambitious projects: this historical epic, an extensive six-episode, twelve-hour film project that consumed the past decade of his life and arrived recently through the public broadcasting service.

Classic Documentary Style

Like slow cooking in an age of fast food, The American Revolution is defiantly traditional, more redolent of historical documentary classics than the era of streaming docs new media formats.

For the documentarian, whose entire filmography chronicling strands of US history spanning various American subjects, the revolutionary period represents more than another topic but fundamental. “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 contemplates from his New York base.

Comprehensive Scholarly Work

The filmmaking team and screenwriter Geoffrey Ward utilized countless written sources plus archival documents. Dozens of historians, representing diverse viewpoints, offered expert analysis together with prominent academics representing multiple disciplines like African American history, indigenous peoples’ narratives and imperial studies.

Distinctive Filmmaking Approach

The film’s approach will appear similar to viewers of Burns’ earlier work. Its distinctive style incorporated methodical photographic exploration across still photos, extensive employment of contemporary scores and actors reading diaries, letters and speeches.

That was the moment Burns built his legacy; decades afterwards, currently the elder statesman of documentary filmmaking, he can attract numerous talented actors. Appearing alongside Burns at a recent event, acclaimed writer Lin-Manuel Miranda commented: “When Ken Burns calls, you say ‘Yes.’”

Remarkable Ensemble

The decade-long production schedule proved beneficial in terms of flexibility. Recordings took place at professional facilities, on location using online technology, a tool embraced throughout the health crisis. The director describes collaborating with actor Josh Brolin, who scheduled a brief window while in Georgia to voice his character portraying the founding father before flying off to his next engagement.

The cast includes Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Dancy, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Paul Giamatti, emerging and established stars, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Maya Hawke, celebrated film and stage performers, British and American talent, versatile character actors, television and film stars, Dan Stevens, Meryl Streep.

The filmmaker continues: “Truly, this might be the most exceptional group ever assembled for any movie or television show. Their contributions are remarkable. They’re not picked because they’re celebrities. I became frustrated when someone asked, about the prominent cast. I explained, ‘These are artists.’ They are among the world’s best performers and they animate historical material.”

Nuanced Narrative

Nevertheless, the lack of surviving participants, modern media compelled the production to rely extensively on historical documents, weaving together the first-person voices of numerous historical characters. This allowed them to present viewers beyond the prominent leaders of the revolution along with multiple essential to the narrative, several participants lack visual representation.

The filmmaker also explored his personal passion for geography and cartography. “Maps fascinate me,” he observes, “with greater cartographic content in this project compared to previous works across my complete filmography.”

Worldwide Consequences

The production crew recorded at nearly a hundred historical locations throughout the continent and in London to preserve geographical atmosphere and partnered extensively with living history participants. All these elements combine to depict events more violent, complex and globally significant versus conventional understanding.

The revolution, it contends, was no mere parochial quarrel about property, revenue and governance. Instead the film portrays a violent confrontation that eventually involved more than two dozen nations and surprisingly represented what it calls “humanity’s highest ideals”.

Civil War Reality

Early dissatisfaction and objections directed toward Britain by colonial residents across thirteen rebellious territories soon descended into a bloody domestic struggle, dividing communities and households and neighbour against neighbour. In episode two, the historian Alan Taylor observes: “The primary misunderstanding regarding the Revolutionary War is that it was something that unified Americans. This ignores the truth that it was a civil war among Americans.”

Sophisticated Interpretation

In his view, the revolutionary narrative that “for most of us is drowning in sentimentality and nostalgia and lacks depth and fails to properly acknowledge the historical reality, all contributors and the widespread bloodshed.”

It was, he contends, a movement that announced the revolutionary principle of fundamental personal liberties; a vicious internal conflict, dividing revolutionaries and royalists; plus an international conflict, the fourth in a series of conflicts between Britain, France and Spain for the “prize of North America”.

Unpredictable Historical Moments

The filmmaker also sought {to rediscover the