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With United States’ 16th President Abraham Lincoln back in the cultural zeitgeist with Steven Spielberg’s feature biopic, NBC hopes to do the same on the TV side with the nation’s first president. The network has put in development George Washington (working title), a drama series from Oscar-winning writer David Seidler (The King’s Speech), Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana and NBCU International Prods’ Carnival Films & Television, the company behind phenom Downton Abbey.
After taking on Britain’s King George VI in King’s Speech, U.K. writer Seidler will now tackle the American commander who led the country’s war for independence from the British Kingdom. He will write the script based on the best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning biography by Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life. Levinson intends to direct the pilot.
George Washington is described as an intimate look at the enigmatic leader who became the father of a nation on one side of the Atlantic and a terrorist on the other, a man to be eliminated at all costs by the British Crown. As episodes move back and forth through the war hero and President’s life and tell the little-known and unlikely story of his survival and triumph, his true character is revealed for the first time. And he is not the man who chopped down the cherry tree. “There’s George Washington the national icon, gazing out from the dollar bill with his mouthful of supposedly wooden teeth, and then there’s the George Washington who had an adulterous affair with his best friend’s wife,” Seidler said. “The George Washington obsessed with social status, finely-tailored clothes, his image. Not an icon, a very human human-being, who learned how to lead. That’s the man I want to understand.”
Seidler, Levinson and Fontana will executive produce with Carnival’s managing director Gareth Neame and Jason Sosnoff, Head of Production & Development at Levinson’s Baltimore Pictures. “What’s so interesting is here was a man who was more instrumental to what our country is today and more famous than any other figure in our history, and yet no one knows anything about him,” Levinson said. “We know the myth of the man, but the reality was he was a flawed and troubled character who overcame his flaws to become one of the foremost leaders of this nation.”
The 75-year-old Seidler, who became then the oldest Oscar winner for best original screenplay when he got the award last year for King’s Speech, now may become the oldest show creator in his US series debut with George Washington. He is with WME, manager Jeff Aghassi, and UK agent Greg Hunt.
This is the second high-profile project for Carnival at NBC — the company is also behind the network’s upcoming series Dracula. Levinson/Fontana’s BBC America series Copper, created by Fontana, was recently renewed for a second season. The duo is repped by UTA.
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Great team behind this and I loved Chernow’s book- but I am surprised Seidler’s first quote is a lascivious one concerning Washington’s friendship with Sally Fairfax (also a dear friend of Martha’s). Deep affection to be sure- hot contemporary affair the likes of Petraeus? No. Does is always have to be so salacious? Washington’s lifelong bitterness at being passed over repeatedly in the British Army when younger much more central to the story. Persnickety, I know (as I am sure this will be great ultimately).
Simply the incredible hardships he overcame during the Revolution alone would make more than enough dramatic fodder, they don’t need to impose any soapy nonsense on what is already an incredibly dramatic story.
TWO intelligent comments IN A ROW? (With multi-syllable words?)
WTH is happening her-
(Oops! – Sorry! – Thought I was at TMZ.)
(Donal Logue of “Life,” and many other great roles/performances? Loved that show, wish it could have lasted more than the one season.) I, too, am disappointed that it looks like NBC may be going the “docudrama” route, where anything that may be even remotely seamy, gets played up over the more insightful life episodes that built an historical figure’s character. Let’s hope the producers are more inclined to go the “King’s Speech” route, which was a great, stay-on-point story. I predict we’ll all be able to tell which way it goes, within the first 20 minutes!
I liked HBO’s JOHN ADAMS mini. But only once, and not all the episodes.
This sounds far more interesting. If you don’t agree, then don’t watch it.
This will be a complete farce. They will do whatever they can to sully our greatest Presidents’ name, mark my words. They are already talking about him having an affair, GIVE ME A BREAK, there is no historical proof that he had an affair, the evidence indicates he would NEVER do something like that. George Washington is easy to understand he was dedicated to God, dedicated to virtue and honor He made a covenant with God before the crossing of the Delaware. This network is a piece of crap, I haven’t watched it for 5 years and I will NEVER watch it again. Read the Real George Washington, if you have the attention span.
I am glad you posted what you did because I noticed that right off how the writer describes GW’s relationship as “adulterous” when in fact there is no evidence, and no one has recently written, the relationship was anything but a deep affection. I certainly hope this project doesn’t turn into a blast against GW.
VERY TROUBLED that the proposed writer of the series either is ignorant of the fact that Washington NEVER had an affair with Sally Fairfax— or does not care for historical fact over salacious fiction. NOT a good omen.
Shameful. Washington had an adulterous affair? Are you kidding me? Has Seider even read Chernows book? Chernow explores this question throughly. His conclusion? It didn’t happen. I will not be watching this inaccurate attempt to destroy the man. Shameful!
Remember how much was made about Seidler being old? I am sure he is only mentioning the adultery to be relevant to his peers.
Oh my God.
Insert cynical joke about vampire-hunting/zombie-killing/crime-solving/etc here. It’s good to see it’s not some high-concept gimmick thing. You can make real drama out of history. As to whether or not that place is NBC, one can only hope.
I’d prefer a highly stylized historical drama. Not zombies or vampires, but a contemporary, maybe action-heavy series. Korean television dramas have done a lot with taking stuffy historical dramas and turning them into stylized, action and romantic epics.
Barry Bostwick did GW long ago and it was really good. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090437/
This was really good. G.M. did a great job with that miniseries: the childhood of GW through the new constitution. Anything new should seek to exceed the water mark set by it.
A football player in the role of His Excellency?
Pish posh!
Historical drama on broadcast??? I can’t fault their ambition, I just hope they get the audience needed to support the expense.
Didn’t AMC have some kind of Revolutionary War spy drama in the works? That certainly would have involved Washington. Maybe they can integrate some of that material, it sounded pretty good.
AMC did have such a project in development, but they apparently passed on going further with it.
They did and Levinson was involved I believe. It was less biographical and more about the Culper ring and espionage.
An intriguing concept, but I’m not watching anything on prime time NBC (football excluded) so long as Leno is there. I’m far from alone.
It is interesting that feature people are gravitating to television.
That’s a very closed minded way of thinking. Not watching a network just because of one person.
Unless Jay is playing Washington, what does he have to do with anything?
NBC puts political spin into almost everything it does (football excluded). The prospect of them producing a rewrite of Washington’s life is rather scary. I won’t denounce it until I’ve seen it, but my expectations are low.
NBC will go for the tabloid sensationalism and try to denigrate Washington. Nobody will watch, especially on NBC.
Wow. You mean you’re actually going to show GW’s flaws? How brave. I will make sure not to watch. It doesn’t sound promising. A TV series that reveals the real GW, and you start by saying he had sex with Sally Fairfax? Where is the evidence? Who cares? It’s TV!
Well, how about the whispers about Lincoln’s association with his friend, Josha Speed. Just because they shared a bed in the building where they both practiced law, does not necessarily mean Lincoln was gay.
There is not a shred of evidence that Washington had an “affair” with anyone. This is a man whose life has been picked over endless times for flaws, and there really aren’t many. I smell a hatchet job. Far better to simply rebroadcast the excellent 8 hour bio that CBS had of George Washington.
This proposed “series” would simply trivialize the greatest man in our history.
Dude hunted alien tea-baggers and you know it!!!!
Stop trying to rewrite history. Washington wanted out of England cause of all the Kryptonians who were infecting the countryside.
I really doubt it.
hell. no one’s perfect…if Cinton can get away with his shit why not george? hell, Bill is farm from being a Washington.
agreed ! I really hope this does not turn into some hatch job on George Washington. It was a different time in this nation and without his fortitude and courage this Republic wouldn’t have began.
Revisionist history is what hollywood is all about.If they broadcast it on NBC, nobody will watch, so that should stop it.
Ditch the George Washington title and call it “U.S. Presidents” then it can continue way past the G. Washington Presidency
read David McCullough’s book, “1776″ This movie is bound to be a farce
What a monumentally bad idea. Another nail in NBC’s current administration.
I will be sure to miss this telecast. By being very familiar with this historic period of time I ready know by the excerpts that this is history lacking any truths. It reminds when Dan Rather made up letter about Geoge Bush and then for this forgery he won an award.
George Washington, by dent of the fact that he assumed the mantle of great power with reservation and then relinquished it as soon as he reasonably could (twice), along with freeing his slaves on his death, effectively dissolving his estate, make him hands down the greatest American President of all times. Possibly the greatest leader in the history of the world. If only other “leaders” could live by his example, the world would be a wonderful place. He was uncorruptable by power and we shouldn’t try to make him “human”.
Agreed – he was completely indispensable to the creation of the United States. And Chernow did NOT put that affair nonsense in the book. He referenced the mails between them – and there’s little doubt Washington probably did LOVE Sally Fairfax, but he was far, far, far too honorable a man to have actually acted on the affair.
He was certainly the greatest of American presidents, and undoubtedly one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known.
Realy ? Greatest leader in the history of man ? I’m all for patriotic citizens, but I’m sure this one is a bit over the top.
Well, it’s largely opinion, of course, but it’s a pretty rare world leader that helps keep a floundering country together that eventually becomes the world’s sole super-power. And then turns around and retires to his home after his work is complete. (Though as you find out in the book and in history, it never really was…)
I’d say Washington rates in the top ten most influential world leaders…
Really! It is not just us patriotic citizens but historically a few well known people. For example: George III said that by refusing to become king of the new nation he had insured his place in history as the greatest man in history. Sultan Abdülhamid I of the Ottoman Empire said, upon learning that the highly successful general of the rebellious British colonies had packed up and quietly went home, that such a man was unheard of and must be a saint or a fool. Catherine II, Czarina of Russia thought him a fool to give up such power that the people would gladly hand to him. As far as his affair with Lady Fairfax is concerned it falls into the same category as the crap that the left has been pushing since the late 60′s. Any and everything distorted, twisted and fabricated to denigrate all the icons of this nation.
You are correct! Why do we have to humanize our great leaders. When the American Experience is a cherished ideal that our children can look up to why do people start to tear it down. Truly it is the cultural dumbing down of this country. There is no need to show the human side of great leaders. That is the trouble with our youth, no heros.
If all they are going to do is try to destroy the reputation of the one person called “The indispensable man”, then there is no reason to watch it. No man is perfect except Jesus, but G.W. was a good and great man who sacrificed for this country to become a country. They didn’t say “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen” for nothing. Will they show him in prayer at Valley Forge? Will they show the man that was shot at numerous times but never shot? Will they show the man that many sacrificed to serve and follow into battle? Or the man who made the crossing to Trenton against all odds? If all they do is besmirch his character, I hope no one watches.
The trials that Washington went through would kill anyone in Hollywood in about ten seconds. Can you imagine them surviving Valley Forge? Oh no, my caramel brulee latte is getting cold. That alone means that NBC has no credibility to snipe at Washington, either they should take a respectful approach or forget it.
At least no one in Hollywood owns people in bondage now do they ? I’m guessing at least they have that over GW.
I’m an assistant at a big talent agency. That’s fairly close to bondage c
No, I don’t know of any people in Hollywood that work for free. Unheard of!
The above is a good example of what happens when people are ignorant of their own nation’s history and are just fed schoolmarm propaganda. George Washington lived like a king at Valley Forge, dining nightly on the most lavish of meals. It was the common men, the cannon fodder, that suffered.
cite your sources you idiot moron boy.
He even hired a band to commemorate his birthday while he was dining on mutton chops in his great warm stone househouse overlooking the desperate precincts of Valley Forge iteself. What a joke.
oh good lord
Let’s see, what is the audience for this series? Will the people interested in watching hours of TV about George Washington want to see him turned into a Bill Clintonesque politician? I think not. Similar to how Hollywood decided to make war movies that were anti American and anti military for the last 10 years. Shockingly the people who like war movies (most of whom are not anti American or anti military) did not watch. Hollywood then declared that no one wanted to watch war movies anymore. The Act of Valor comes out and is a hit and everyone is shocked. Amazing.
“and then there’s the George Washington who had an adulterous affair with his best friend’s wife”
Well I already know he’s going to screw this up, because while this is asserted, it is not in evidence.
Really NBC? This has got to be the WHITEST idea I’ve heard in weeks. #yawn
A TV show based on a WHITE idea? Oh my goodness! Wouldn’t that just be awful?!
George Washington is a forgotten hero. I only knew him as our first president and a boring picture on our $1 bill until I read Ron Chernow’s book “Washington, A Life”. He faced adversity from a young age but his compass always pointed to what was right and honorable and he followed it at great difficulty. He should be an inspiration to those who face difficult times, to know that they truly are the ones that set their own destiny and do not necessarily have to blow in the wind. He was the only person who hd the strength of character and the dignity to lead our country into unity and freedom. We owe this man, and our early fathers who believed in him, our existence as we know it today.
Agree with all the angst above – and fact is, there were PLENTY of affairs to go around back then w/out having to drag Washington through the mud. And yes, there are plenty of sins made by the man (he went out of his way to bring his man servant slave, Billy Lee, with him every where he went – and he made some questionable land deals that today would get people arrested – or not, if you’re connected well enough).
Anyway, this affair crap – and to have Seidler bring that up (oy vey!)- Washington had plenty enough foilables to take him down a few pegs w/out making up new ones. I sure hope Chernow (the writer – I read the book, it’s amazing!) has some creative control.
This story of George Washington once appeared in virtually every student text in America, but hasn’t been seen in the last forty years. This story deals with George Washington when he was involved in the French and Indian War as a young man only twenty-three years of age.
The French and Indian War occurred twenty years before the American Revolution. It was the British against the French; the Americans sided with the British; and most of the Indians sided with the French. Both Great Britain and France disputed each others’ claims of territorial ownership along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; both of them claimed the same land.
Unable to settle the dispute diplomatically, Great Britain sent 2300 hand-picked, veteran British troops to America under General Edward Braddock to rout the French.
The British troops arrived in Virginia, where George Washington (colonel of the Virginia militia) and 100 Virginia buckskins joined General Braddock. They divided their force; and General Braddock, George Washington, and 1300 troops marched north to expel the French from Fort Duquesne — now the city of Pittsburgh. On July 9, 1755 — only seven miles from the fort — while marching through a wooded ravine, they walked right into an ambush; the French and Indians opened fire on them from both sides.
But these were British veterans; they knew exactly what to do. The problem was, they were veterans of European wars. European warfare was all in the open. One army lined up at one end of an open field, the other army lined up at the other end, they looked at each other, took aim, and fired. No running, no hiding, But here they were in the Pennsylvania woods with the French and Indians firing at them from the tops of trees, from behind rocks, and from under logs.
When they came under fire, the British troops did exactly what they had been taught; they lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in the bottom of that ravine — and were slaughtered. At the end of two hours, 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down; only 30 of the French and Indians had been shot.
There were 86 British and American officers involved in that battle; at the end of the battle, George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot down off his horse — he was the only officer left on horseback.
Following this resounding defeat, Washington gathered the remaining troops and retreated back to Fort Cumberland in western Maryland, arriving there on July 17, 1755.
The next day, Washington wrote a letter to his family explaining that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and had found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him; several horses had been shot from under him, but he had not been harmed. He told them:
By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation.
Washington openly acknowledged that God’s hand was upon him, that God had protected him and kept him through that battle.
However, the story does not stop here. Fifteen years later, in 1770 — now a time of peace — George Washington and a close personal friend, Dr. James Craik, returned to those same Pennsylvania woods. An old Indian chief from far away, having heard that Washington had come back to those woods, traveled a long way just to meet with him.
He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington that he had been a leader in that battle fifteen years earlier, and that he had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. Washington had been singled out, and the chief explained that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen different times, but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him. He then told Washington:
I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle….I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.
Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Well written.
If NBC has any sense, they’ll insist on seeing scenes/storylines like this, along with the others already mentioned. Balance the salacious with the amazing.
Given this will be on uber-liberal NBC, I already know this will be at least as much iconoclasty to tear Washington down than an actual attempt at history. I’ll be sure to look out for a glaring overemphasis on his slave ownership rather than a factual account of his slave ownership. A completely speculative “affair” being included should tell you all you need to know about this upcoming garbage. And how fitting of NBC to have a foreigner write the story of an American hero, lol. Fits right in with their American-hating liberal agenda.
Seidler’s comment is about as pompus and self-promoting as I’ve read in quite awhile. For example, Washington is rebuked for being “obessed with social status and finely tailored clothes. Well he was no more obsessed with social status than any Virginia gentalman of his day and his finely tailored clothes are explained by the fact that he wanted his soldiers to see him fit the part of respected leader and sit the example for them to follow as best they could – dress like someone they could be proud to call thier commander. Etc, Etc, The affair statement and so many other words here are just plain unreliable.
A true leader in peace,war,and governing. His standing by Madison in 1788 vs Patrick Henry in the final debate on establishing a constitution was the turning point for the United States of America.
Prepare to learn that Washington was having an affair with a slave woman, was a tad corrupt around the edges, yet not without redeeming, lovable, socialist qualities that will endear you to him forever. We will discover that Washington yearned for a country where money would be taken from the successful to give to the struggling classes, where all work should benefit one’s neighbors and where profit is disgraceful, where workers of the world could unite to construct a worker’s paradise free of strife and hateful religion such as the cruel cult of Christianity, and where no man should ever own a personal weapon or speak against his kindly, all caring, all loving Government.
We can expect nothing less from NBC.
After reading the Fairfax letters many times, it can be said with confidence there was no affair there. Moreover, reading the few letters left to Mrs. Washington (after she burned most of them out of a desire to keep some piece of her beloved husband to herself after he had given a lifetime to his country) shows a portrait of a man overwhelmed with love for his wife. This show is going to turn Washington’s life into the Real Housewives of Mount Vernon and it is a tragedy to know people are going to take it as gospel.