Martin at the Movies: "Young Washington"

Summary

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History As It Happens: "Martin at the Movies – Young Washington"

Host: Martin Di Caro
Date: July 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This special "at the movies" episode explores the new film Young Washington, which reimagines the early life of George Washington on the North American frontier before the American Revolution. Host Martin Di Caro visits Mount Vernon during a private screening and discusses the movie's historical context, creative choices, and the challenge of humanizing an icon with the film’s star, its executive producer, historical experts, and educators. The episode centers on how the past shapes present narratives and why U.S. culture has struggled to capture Washington’s humanity on screen.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Portraying a Human Young George Washington

• Actor’s Perspective
  • Preparing for the Role:
    • British actor William Franklin Miller, who plays young Washington, discusses approaching the role from outside the American mythos, which lessened the pressure but required extensive research ([02:11]).

      "I think for me there was probably less pressure, if that makes any sense... really trying to find out what his character was and the birth of his ambition." —William Franklin Miller ([02:11])

    • Miller focused on Washington's Rules of Civility, personal writings, and podcasts for preparation ([02:47]).

      "There's 100 rules of civility and decent behavior which came into play...a lot of podcasts really as well online." ([02:47])

    • The accent was a hybrid of English, American, and Irish, modeled partly on the miniseries John Adams ([03:19]).
  • Humanizing the Legend:
    • Miller emphasizes portraying Washington not as a legend but as a relatable young man facing loss, ambition, and social barriers ([03:56], [04:48]).

      "This is the man, in all honesty, this is a young man...dealing with failure, with loss, with love and all these things that really everyone goes through." ([03:56]) "It was him battling with the society of the time, but he didn't give up." ([04:48])

2. The Challenge and Value of the Film

• Historical Authenticity and Artistic License
  • Host Martin Di Caro and Doug Bradburn (President & CEO, Mount Vernon) discuss balancing accuracy with storytelling ([06:53], [07:19]).

    "All historical movies have to take some liberties as long as they get the main frame correct... that's the point, right? To try to spur some interest." —Martin Di Caro ([06:53]) "It's a piece of art... like a painting by Trumbull of the signing of the Declaration. It's fictional because it never happened that way, but yet is iconic..." —Doug Bradburn ([07:19])

• Washington’s Struggles with Status and Ambition
  • The film shows young Washington striving to escape "ascribed status"—the rigidity of colonial class—which resonates with modern viewers ([04:32]–[04:48]).
• Portrayal of Native Americans
  • The movie addresses the complexity of Washington’s relationships and alliances with Indigenous peoples during the French and Indian War ([05:04]).
• Failure as a Central Theme
  • Washington's early mistakes, such as the debacle at Fort Necessity, are highlighted as formative and instructive ([10:47]).

    "He never repeated the same mistake...he always learned from his experience." —John Irwin, Executive Producer ([10:47])

3. Why So Few George Washington Films?

• Cultural and Industry Gaps
  • Both the host and producer note the rarity of Washington-centered films, contrasting it with French cinema’s frequent Napoleon stories ([08:35], [12:08]).

    "It's strange in this country...You look at French cinema. Every great French artist has got to make a Napoleon film...that in America has very few of these things." —Doug Bradburn ([08:35])

    • Financial risk, shifting audience interests, and perceptions of Washington as "the marble man" are cited as barriers ([12:08]).

      "They looked at everything from a business advantage...and I think they just felt like, been there, done that. This is an old subject matter." —John Irwin ([12:08])

4. Navigating Modern Politics and Mythmaking

• Avoiding Partisanship
  • The filmmakers assert that Young Washington was consciously designed without a political agenda, aiming to present a nuanced, human portrait that can appeal across ideological divides ([13:23], [13:48]).

    "We didn't take it with a political lens...it just tells a remarkable story about a...remarkable man." —John Irwin ([13:23]) "Hopefully this film is a unifier." ([13:48])

5. Educational Impact and Humanization

• Learning Tools Development
  • David Bobb (President, Bill of Rights Institute) explains how the film will serve as the basis for family guides and classroom curricula—an effort to reclaim Washington from myth and make him relatable to students ([14:48]).

    "It's the Washington that nobody knows because we've made him into a marble man...This is not relatable." —Bill of Rights Institute Rep ([14:48])

    • The importance of showing failure—and learning from it—as a way to engage young Americans ([15:40], [16:25]).

      "Washington says in the movie, failure is a great teacher. I think that can be a powerful lesson for young people..." ([15:40])

  • Depicting Washington’s Humanity
    • Attention is given to showing his emotional range, flaws, awkwardness, and relationships ([17:55], [18:18]).

      "He laughed, cried, tried to sneak into a party, was rebellious...had a love interest and didn't always know how to express himself." —Bill of Rights Institute Rep ([17:55])

    • The balance between venerating founders and criticizing them is highlighted as crucial to understanding American ideals and history ([18:55]).

      "There's an in between...some measure of gratitude for the striving. The founding men and women...said, we want to live up to that standard." ([18:55])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Portraying the Legend:

  • "He's ubiquitous, but unknowable for many, many people...In his own time, he wanted to be known by his deeds, not by his words." —Doug Bradburn ([08:36])
  • "We want to spark curiosity in kids...it's the Washington that nobody knows." —Bill of Rights Institute Rep ([14:48])
  • "He never repeated the same mistake." —John Irwin ([10:47])
  • "Hopefully this film is a unifier, and I see it as a unifying film." —John Irwin ([13:48])
  • "It's hard to depict George Washington on film because he's a legend, yet he was a mortal man. Right? Peeling away the layers of myth." —Martin Di Caro ([16:07])

• Fun, Lighter Moments:

  • "The sequel presumably will be Old Washington. Any truth to the rumor that you're going to audition for the part?" —Martin Di Caro ([09:50])
  • "I auditioned for this role, but they said you're only 5 foot 4, Martin. Sorry, we can't do anything with CGI." ([10:02])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:26–05:04: Interview with William Franklin Miller (Young Washington)
• 06:03–09:50: Discussion with Doug Bradburn (Mount Vernon President) on the film’s depiction and broader context
• 10:17–13:48: Insights from John Irwin (Producer) on creative challenges and intentional lack of a political agenda
• 14:10–18:55: David Bobb (Bill of Rights Institute) on the film’s educational potential, humanization effort, and American civic ideals

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Tone & Style

The episode maintains an inquisitive, reflective tone, blending cinematic critique, historical curiosity, and candid humor. Interviewees emphasize the importance of making Washington relevant and relatable. There is appreciation for nuance and historical complexity, balanced by a sense of fun and hope that the film rekindles interest in America's founding stories.

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Summary Takeaway

By peeling away the marble and myth, Young Washington aims to ignite curiosity, foster understanding, and invite viewers—especially young ones—into the story of an ambitious, flawed, and ultimately indispensable figure in American history. The episode asserts that bringing such humanity to screen is both challenging and necessary, especially as the U.S. approaches major historical anniversaries and seeks to bridge polarizations through more complete and relatable narratives.

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Transcript

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[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

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[Doug Bradburn]

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[Interviewer / Host]

Refreshers contain caffeine. This is a special episode of history as it happens at the movies.

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

Much of that territory is unexplored. It's wild, unpredictable and dangerous. What are you called?

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

George Washington.

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

Which fort is that?

[Interviewer / Host]

So I went to Mount Vernon in Northern Virginia for a screening of Young Washington, a film by director John Irwin, starring Ben Kingsley, Mary Louise Parker, Andy Serkis, Kelsey Grammer, and in the title role, William Franklin Miller as young George Washington. The film is set in pre revolutionary America on the frontier as war erupts between the British and French empires in North America. It is very much a war film. The performances were excellent, starting with Miller, who I had a few minutes with after watching the movie. So you grew up in the United Kingdom. You did not grow up as I did in the United States. We're, you know, bred with George Washington. He's a legend. Maybe that was good. Could approach the part without all that mythology.

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

It's a good point you make. I don't actually know the answer, but I think for me there was probably less pressure, if that makes any sense. I think young George is also relatively unknown when it comes to, you know, obviously his older, older years. And so for me, maybe there was a sense of less pressure, which helped me really trying to find out what his character was and really the birth of his ambition, I suppose.

[Interviewer / Host]

So this was your first major movie role?

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

It definitely was. I've done small bits here and there, but this is the biggest one yet.

[Interviewer / Host]

So you picked an obscure character to play right off the bat then?

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

Yes, we're going, we're doing really difficult stuff or nothing by looks of things.

[Interviewer / Host]

But how did you prepare for the role? Did you read a lot of American history or.

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

Definitely, definitely. I mean, there's so much on his old years, so there's a lot of accounts that he wrote. You know, there's 100 rules of civility and decent behavior which came into play. And so a lot of podcasts really as well online. And also John and the whole team over there sent me so much information to go through. To list them now would take a while, but I have them on my emails because I've gone through. We had about three weeks to really study the character before we started shooting, which for me I found was enough. Really, for me it was mentality. And the 100 rules of civility and decent behavior really helped me in that aspect.

[Interviewer / Host]

And the accent.

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

Yeah, difficult one. So we worked on that three weeks before and then religiously pretty much every day on set. So it's a mix of English, American and Irish. It's a hybrid. John Adams was a TV series that we studied and focused on the accent.

[Interviewer / Host]

And you were talking here after the film on the panel discussion about the pressure you felt. I can't relate to that. I'm not a movie actor or anything like that. But you are playing the most important American ever. And Americans now very politically polarized. But even that aside, they would come to him movie like this with certain expectations of who, what should he look like, how should he comport himself?

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

I mean, yeah, it was, it was a huge responsibility and it was quite nerve wracking. I think for me, again, it was really just trying to, you know, this is, this is the man, in all honesty, this is a young man at the very start of the film. You know, he's figuring out where he wants to go. He's navigating through his life. He's dealing with failure, with loss, with love and all these things that really everyone goes through. And so I think for me it was really, you know, learning about his older years and admiring that, but then also going back to the birth of it and trying to figure out. But also sort of forget about, you know, his later years as well. This was, you know, before the legend. So this is really how a young man, I guess, navigated his life.

[Interviewer / Host]

What I really liked about the beginning of the movie is something that the American Revolution overturned. That is ascribed status. Right. You are in this station, tough. If you don't like it, there's nothing you can do about it.

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Host]

As you depicted George Washington, he was pushing back against that from the very beginning.

[William Franklin Miller (Actor playing Young George Washington)]

Yeah, and it's tough. And I think that can be adapted to today's world, I guess, in a sense. But, yeah, it was him battling with the society, I guess, of the time, but he didn't give up. And I think that's something that people can take away from this film and hopefully look up to and believe in.

[Interviewer / Host]

So I'm interested now in reading any reviews, any criticism of how Washington's early exploits and failures were depicted in this movie, as well as his relationship with native peoples who found themselves trying to survive a war in their lands fought between two colonial empires. I thought the movie did a good job of portraying that tension. Now, it was during the Revolutionary War, a generation later, when General Washington ordered a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois. In this film, Young Washington needs the Indians as allies. He is ambitious but inexperienced and was lucky to survive the campaign at all. Here's Doug Bradburn, the president and CEO of George George Washington's Mount Vernon. All right, so when I saw this movie was coming out, my first instinct is, oh, boy, George Washington movie. They make him into a God or a hero. But when I saw that Mount Vernon was gonna screen it and then I was invited to come here to watch it, I'm like, okay, this must have some real value. What is the value of this film?

[Doug Bradburn]

Well, it's a great film. It's a war film. It's about George Washington as a young man and the French and Indian War, really learning to become a leader. He's a very ambitious man, but he doesn't quite fit in. He doesn't have the right education, he doesn't have the right polish, he doesn't have the right connections. And that affects him in a lot of aspects of his life. And then ultimately, you know, he has some success, he gets some luck, he gets some opportunity, he has some failure. And then he learns from that failure and gets another opportunity and turns into the man that really understands that he's going to be somebody that serves for his men. Now, that's the sort of story of the fictional tale they tell in Young Washington. And I think it ultimately is actually quite true to the story of the young George Washington's experience.

[Interviewer / Host]

You know, I just read a biography of George Washington, so a lot of this was fresh in my head. I was actually impressed with how accurate the chronology was. All movies, all historical movies, have to take some liberties as long as they get the main frame correct. And I think this movie did accomplish that. And really that's the point, right to Try to spur some interest in this. Because, as the director mentioned, there aren't that many good movies about George Washington.

[Doug Bradburn]

It's a movie about George Washington. It's a story about the origin of our country as well. That's really not well understood. And it is a piece of art. So it's a work of art that's trying to tell a story. Tell a story. Something, in this case, because it's based on a true story, has versalimitude to it, has some truth to it, but it is a piece of art. But no different than, say, a painting by Trumbull of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which is fictional because it never happened that way, but yet is iconic in the way we think about the story of who we are as a nation. It hangs in the Capitol. It's a history painting. And this is like that. It's a portrait of a time that helps as helps us understand some essentials in a medium that's very common for our eye, for our literacy level, and very powerful because of the emotions and the characters as they're developing.

[Interviewer / Host]

Emotive films. Right. They're supposed to take us somewhere. They're not history books. You're a scholar. You can appreciate a movie like this. I'm not a scholar. I appreciated the film. What I liked is that it showed Washington as a human being. He had love interests. He cried, he laughed. He's not the austere person on the $1 bill in this movie.

[Doug Bradburn]

Yeah, he's a hard guy for Americans to get to know.

[Interviewer / Host]

He's everywhere.

[Doug Bradburn]

Yeah, he's ubiquitous. And that is part of what makes him hard to get to know. He's on your dollar bill. He's named the Capitol. I mean, his monument is this giant obelisk completely out of scale. And so he's ubiquitous, but unknowable for many, many people here at Mount Vernon. We, of course, argue that this is a place where you can get inside his mind's eye a little bit. It's a place he was passionate about, but that gets into psychology and all these things because he doesn't leave us long autobiographies like Ben Franklin explaining how he wants people to think about himself. So he always, in his own time, wanted to be known by his deeds, not by his words. So this is a great portrait of him as a young man who isn't anybody. He's nobody. He has no reputation. He has to make a reputation. He has to start building that character that will give him a place in the world. And so I think It's a really fun place to start with the history of the American Revolutionary era. There's so few films about the founding of the country. It's strange in this country. Why? We don't have a lot of films about the founding. You look at like French cinema. Every great French artist has got to make a Napoleon film or a French Revolution film. But that in America has very few of these things.

[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

Yes.

[Interviewer / Host]

The sequel presumably will be Old Washington. Any truth to the rumor that you're going to audition for the part?

[Doug Bradburn]

I would love to be in a movie. I'd be. Love to be a star. I'd be a terrible Washington.

[Interviewer / Host]

However, I auditioned for this role, but they said you're only 5 foot 4. Martin. Sorry we can't do anything with CGI.

[Doug Bradburn]

I love the actor they did for this. A new light in the. In the constellation of stars out there.

[Interviewer / Host]

So, about the movie. Young Washington is a collaboration between the Wonder Project, which produces and curates movies and series, and angel, the film's distributor. Bob Gerard is one of the movie's executive producers. What are the challenges in producing a film like this? Setting aside for a moment our very hyper polarized product, political climate just trying to bring George Washington to life, who is a legendary figure, making him immortal, immortal man.

[Doug Bradburn]

Right?

[Interviewer / Host]

Right.

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

First, this film is John Irwin's film. And from our perspective, we wanted to see make sure that people understood being Young Washington. It was the transition in his life as a young man from wanting to be part of the British army and military and wanting to be formally educated and being told no on both counts. Having his favorite brother die, having his mother die, but yet having incredible ambition, but at the same token, so much so that he didn't have the experience that matched his ambition. Through his debacle at Fort Necessity and things, he did one thing. He did several things amazingly great, but one thing was he never repeated the same mistake. And he always learned from his experience and he always was moving forward with a very positive viewpoint about people in general.

[Interviewer / Host]

You know, I was talking with somebody the other day about how there's so few good movies about George Washington and he is indisputably the most important American ever. Without him, our republic would not have been as a general and then as first President of the United States. Why do you think you're in the movie business? So you know better than I. Why have there been no good movies about George Washington?

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

That's a good question. There have had a few documentaries and, and miniseries and things, but I. I can't speak for you. Know, the studios at large or the major streamers and things. I. I just think that at the time, they felt that the interest wasn't there for them to financially invest. They looked at everything from a business advantage point of view, and I think they just felt like, been there, done that. This is an old subject matter. Younger audiences don't like to go to historical movies. All the usual reasons why they would pass on a script like this were an idea to do it. And it takes somebody with a lot of guts and ideas and talent, like John Irwin, to put everything together to make it. And we found the right kind of combination of investors to come along to help John make it.

[Interviewer / Host]

When you're preparing to do a movie like this, do you take into account politics? This is what I mean by that. For instance, in my own work, I'm not here to cater to people's feelings. I'm here to give them the truth as I see it. And. And people are going to come to a movie with their own prejudices. They have an expectation of how George Washington should be depicted. And this goes across the political spectrum, left, right and center. How do you approach that issue?

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

That's a good question for John, actually. But I don't think that we. We didn't take it with a political lens of any kind whatsoever. And I think if you see the film, you will understand that it just. It's the transition of a great man becoming probably still the greatest president this

[Interviewer / Host]

country's ever had, because he can't foresee today's political nonsense.

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

Of course not.

[Interviewer / Host]

And all these silly arguments we have about.

[John Irwin / Film Producer]

I think you would be disappointed if you saw how divisive things are in this country. And hopefully this film is a unifier, and I see it as a unifying film. You'll see that it's not real political, and it just tells a remarkable story about a extremely remarkable man, George Washington. It doesn't get more complex than that.

[Interviewer / Host]

Young Washington is meant to get Americans interested in their history again, and it will be used as a learning tool, too. David Bobb is the president and CEO of the Bill of Rights Institute, which is providing the educational materials for the film, including a family discussion guide. You can find [e-mail] and a curriculum for teachers and students in the fall, all done in conjunction with Mount Vernon. And among the subjects I wanted to talk to him about was why there are so few good movies about George Washington or other important Americans. So tell me about your feelings about this film and why it's important Right

[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

now, this is the Washington nobody knows. I think you're right that it's amiss by Hollywood to have not done more, I think of even the whole sweep of American freedom fighters. Where's the movie about Frederick Douglass? There is a very fine Harriet Tubman movie, right? So there's a few out there. But the reason that I signed on to help with the educational products around this movie is the film's director, John Irwin of the Wonder Project said, we want to spark curiosity in kids. It's not a documentary. It's the Washington that nobody knows because we've made him into a marble man. Right. After all, he's represented by a 555 foot obelisk in the heart of the District of Columbia. This is not relatable. We do civics and history at the Bill of Rights Institute. And what we want to do is make the educational materials accessible, tell the real story, tell whole history. So this confronts the early challenges. It's a story ultimately of failure. Washington says in the movie, failure is a great teacher. I think that can be a powerful lesson for young people who are trying to figure out in this 21st century how to make their own way. Right. They want to be famous. Washington wanted to be famous. He was ambitious for a lot of things and didn't always land that ambition. He had to realize I got to be ambitious for the right things. That's why this movie matters.

[Interviewer / Host]

It's hard to depict George Washington on film because he's a legend, yet he was a mortal man. Right? Peeling away the layers of myth. And also in our hyper polarized environment, people are going to come to this film with their own. He has to be be depicted this way, he has to be depicted that way. How do you negotiate that?

[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

I think the Wonder Project did an amazing job. And all credit to John Irwin and his team. They show Washington in a vulnerable place. Right. As a kid, imagine you lose your father, the sadness that comes in. Also you recognize that, hey, you're not going to be able to have the life maybe that you were thinking you were going to have. You weren't going to be able to go to the kind of elite school. You weren't going to have a path that was going to be very easy at all. Washington had to earn his character. He had to channel his ambition. This movie does a really good job of showing the Washington in his full colors that is rare, the pedestal. Washington is the guy that never failed, the guy that always succeeded and that was destined for success. That is not this movie's Portrayal. And that's one of the reasons that I'm excited about it.

[Interviewer / Host]

There's a lot of, like, minor details, too, that maybe historians will pick at, but it's impossible. No one has a time machine to go back to the 18th century. How did Washington speak? Like, the tone of his voice or the quality of his voice or his accent.

[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

I'm a political scientist by training, love history, and I'm at an organization now where we teach history and civics. But nitpicking is not the point. This is not a documentary. This is a Vivid, Technicolor, thoroughly 21st century movie about a guy who we have a lot of kind of myths in our head about. Let's portray him as we think he was.

[Interviewer / Host]

He's a person who laughed, cried, tried

[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

to sneak into a party, was rebellious, didn't always make the right decisions, was kind of grasping, had a love interest and didn't always know how to express himself. Around the ladies, all these things are shown. And I think what it does is it humanizes. We tend to show the founders in these poses that are not human.

[Interviewer / Host]

Washington's austere smile, that face on our dollar bill. Right. Historians believe that their job is not to offer a unifying vision of history. Yet at the same time, our semi quincentennial is coming up. Right? There's got to be something that we all can agree on here, and that is whether you think the American Revolution was a great event, a good event, somewhere on that spectrum, it's an important event, and it wouldn't have happened. I just recently read a large biography of George Washington. It really would not have happened without his leadership. He did have an innate quality.

[Bill of Rights Institute Representative]

He was indispensable. And I agree with you about that kind of historian's tendency. This is a more recent thing, right. To almost, you said, not put them on a pedestal, but what about knocking them off? There's an in between. And that, I think, is what this movie strikes the right tone, which is, can we appreciate as Americans, whether we're an academic or not, some measure of gratitude for the striving? The founding men and women set aside standard and said, we want to live up to that standard. It's in our declaration. We do not still today live up to that perfectly. But the fact that we erected a standard, that they did, that has made possible the striving of the abolitionists, of the suffragists, of those who fought in the civil rights movement, Right. This has not been an easy struggle. It's not been a straight line. But I think in this 250th we can have gratitude for them, those who have fought for these ideals. And let's look to the next 250.

[Interviewer / Host]

So if you get around to seeing this movie, I hope you find it at the very least, entertaining, whatever your politics. But I really hope it compels you to pick up a book about the American Revolution or George Washington or some related subject to learn about our nation's history in all its complexities. This has been a special episode of History, as it happens.

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