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Ken Burns has become beyond being a historical storyteller; he represents an institution, a prolific creative force. When he has project premiering on the television, all desire his attention.

He participated in “more fucking podcasts than I ever thought possible”, he remarks, wrapping up of his marathon promotional journey comprising 40 cities, dozens of preview events and hundreds of interviews. “I think there are 340.1m podcasts, one for every American, and I’ve done half of them.”

Happily the filmmaker is incredibly dynamic, as loquacious behind the mic as he is productive while filmmaking. The 72-year-old has traveled from prestigious venues to mainstream media outlets to talk about one of his most ambitious projects: The American Revolution, an extensive six-episode, twelve-hour film project that occupied ten years of his career and arrived recently on PBS.

Timeless Filmmaking Method

Similar to traditional cooking in today’s rapid-consumption era, Burns’ latest project is defiantly traditional, reminiscent of The World at War rather than contemporary streaming docs and podcast series.

But for Burns, who has built a career documenting American historical narratives spanning various American subjects, the nation’s founding is not just another subject but fundamental. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein recently, and she concurred: no future work will carry greater importance,” Burns reflects by phone from New York.

Massive Research Effort

Burns, co-directors Botstein and David Schmidt along with writer Geoffrey Ward referenced numerous historical volumes plus archival documents. Dozens of historians, spanning age and perspective, provided on-air commentary along with leading scholars from a range of other fields like African American history, first nations scholarship and the British empire.

Distinctive Filmmaking Approach

The film’s approach will feel familiar to fans of historical documentaries. The unique approach featured gradual camera movements through archival photographs, generous use of period music and actors reading diaries, letters and speeches.

That was the moment Burns established his reputation; decades afterwards, now the doyen of documentaries, he can apparently summon virtually any performer. Appearing alongside Burns at a recent event, the Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda observed: “Nobody declines an invitation from Ken Burns.”

Remarkable Ensemble

The decade-long production schedule proved beneficial regarding scheduling. Recordings took place in studios, in relevant places using online technology, an approach adopted throughout the health crisis. The director describes collaborating with actor Josh Brolin, who found a few free hours during his travels to record his lines as the revolutionary leader before flying off to other professional obligations.

Additional performers feature multiple distinguished artists, respected performing veterans, diverse creative professionals, multiple generations of actors, celebrated film and stage performers, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Tobias Menzies, skilled dramatic performers, television and film stars, plus additional notable names.

Burns emphasizes: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast recruited for any project. They do an extraordinary service. Their celebrity status wasn’t the criteria. I got so angry when somebody said, ‘So why the celebrities?’. I explained, ‘These are artists.’ They’re the finest actors in the world and they can bring this stuff alive.”

Nuanced Narrative

Nevertheless, no contemporary observers remain, modern media forced Burns and his team to lean heavily on primary texts, weaving together the first-person voices of multiple revolutionary participants. This approach enabled to introduce audiences not only to the “bold-faced names” of the founders but also to “dozens of others crucial to understanding, many of whom lack visual representation.

Burns additionally pursued his particular enthusiasm for maps and spatial representation. “I love maps,” he observes, “and there are more maps in this project compared to previous works throughout my entire career.”

Global Significance

Filmmakers captured footage at nearly a hundred historical locations across North America plus English locations to capture the landscape’s character and worked extensively with historical interpreters. These components unite to present a narrative more bloody, multifaceted and world-changing than the one taught in schools.

The revolution, it contends, transcended provincial conflict over land, taxation and representation. Instead the film portrays a blood-soaked struggle that finally engaged multiple global powers and surprisingly represented what it calls “the noble aspirations of humankind”.

Internal Conflict Truth

Initial complaints and protests aimed at the crown by American colonists in 13 fractious colonies soon descended into a vicious internal war, setting brother against brother and turning communities into battlegrounds. In episode two, academic Alan Taylor comments: “The main misapprehension concerning independence struggle is that it was something a consolidating event for colonists. This omits the fact that Americans fought each other.”

Sophisticated Interpretation

For him, the independence account that “generally is drowning in sentimentality and nostalgia and is incredibly superficial and doesn’t have the respect for what actually took place, every individual involved and the extensive brutality.

The historian argues, a revolution that proclaimed the revolutionary principle of the unalienable rights of people; a vicious internal conflict, pitting Patriots against Loyalists; plus an international conflict, the fourth in a series of conflicts between Britain, France and Spain for the “prize of North America”.

Contingent Historical Events

Burns also wanted {to rediscover the