Michael Douglas Quips He’s Playing ‘Rascal’ Benjamin Franklin Because ‘I Wanted to See How I Looked in Tights’

Michael Douglas’ reason for playing Benjamin Franklin comes down to one thing – tights.

While speaking at the Television Critics Association Winter 2024 press tour on Monday, the 79-year-old actor revealed that he has joined the cast of the Apple TV+ limited series Franklin because “I’m at a point in my career where I’m trying different things.”

“I have never had a period [genre]so I wanted to see what I looked like in tights,” he joked, adding that his “initial attraction” was due to the costume.

Douglas also said that playing one of America’s founding fathers – whom he called “a bit of a rascal” – was a great opportunity that involved a “wonderful, wonderful cast”.

Michael Douglas transforms into America’s founding father Benjamin Franklin for Apple TV+: first look

Michael Douglas. David Fisher/Shutterstock

“We had a great cast [and a] a wonderful director in Tim Van Patten,” Douglas said. “I think that helped us in the sense that it was a true ensemble group. I think we all wanted to stay away from these kinds of historical pictures that give you a history lesson but don’t really get into the intrigue and the game and the gambling that we were talking about early on.”

In the new series that will be released on April 12 The Kominsky method the alum is joined by Daniel Mays, Noah Jupe, Thibault de Montalembert, Ludivine Sagnier, Eddie Marsan, Assaad Bouab, Jeanne Balibar and Theodore Pellerin.

He praised his cast and noted that the series included “probably the best production I’ve been a part of in my career.”

Michael Douglas devours ‘Biggest oyster I’ve ever seen’ in less than 20 seconds: ‘What can I say’

Michael Douglas in ‘Franklin’.

Apple TV+

According to a press release, the series explores “the thrilling story of one of the biggest gambles of Benjamin Franklin’s career.”

“Thanks to his fame, charisma and ingenuity, Franklin outwitted British spies, French informers and hostile colleagues as he engineered the Franco-American alliance in 1778 and the final peace treaty with England in 1783. The eight-year French mission stands as Franklin’s most important service to his country, without which America would not have won in the revolution,” the statement said.

Based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff, The Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.

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Franklin premiering Friday, April 12, on Apple TV+.

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Source: HIS Education