William Franklyn-Miller on Making His Big-Screen Debut as Young Washington
The 22-year-old actor talks about Ben Kingsley driving him to work his "ass off," the pressure of portraying a founding father, and turning to HBO's John Adams for accent inspiration.
It can’t be easy starring in your first movie, especially when said movie happens to be about one of the most important historical figures of all time. William Franklyn-Miller, the 22-year-old British actor and lead of the drama Young Washington (out July 3), should know, as he found himself in that very position, portraying George Washington alongside a stacked cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, and Andy Serkis. The occasionally bloody epic kicks off in the 1750s, well before the Revolutionary War and the respected Washington many of us read about in history class.
Here, the future founding father and first president is in his early twenties, mocked by the more seasoned officers around him (“Oh, the boy can read,” one taunts during a meeting) and generally unsure of himself, albeit quite determined. Franklyn-Miller, who will also appear in Netflix’s upcoming limited series The Age of Innocence, recently sat down with Rotten Tomatoes to discuss researching Washington’s early years, the film’s release coinciding with America’s milestone next month, and stealing Ben Kingsley’s warm-up technique.
Tim Lowery for Rotten Tomatoes: Was it intimidating to portray such a towering figure?
William Franklyn-Miller: Definitely. When I first got the audition, I was over the moon. But then the reality really hit, and I realized how much of a responsibility it was — not only to, you know, portray him in his younger years, which aren’t really talked about, but also to honor his later years and his legacy as well. And so it was definitely on my mind throughout the whole thing.
RT: What drew you to the role?
Franklyn-Miller: I’m obsessed with hero stories but also how they become the hero or the legend that they’re known for. Even growing up, I’ve always been obsessed with the Dune books. I read the Dune franchise, and those movies are amazing to me. And The King is another movie that I love, starring Timothée [Chalamet], that sort of shows the rise of [Henry V] and really what he grapples with and what chances he has to take. And so once I read this script, I fell in love with that aspect of it. This story hasn’t been told before. And I didn’t really believe the script at first. I was like, “Did this genuinely happen?” And then I did the research and found out it did happen, and, yeah, that really drew me to him.
RT: What sort of research did you do?
Franklyn-Miller: It’s a wide variety. I studied the Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour. It was a book George grew up on, and it really helped me get into his mentality. But he did write, and he wrote a lot about the land, and so there’s a lot [about that] online. And then I listened to a lot of podcasts — hours of them, actually — and they dove into his young years. He was obsessed with the land, and surveying was a big part of growing up. A lot of it was finding out all the facts about him in his older years and trying to find out where that ambition stemmed from and who [inspired] it. A lot of it was his half-brother Lawrence and then his mother, who was sort of against George the entire way with joining the military and the [British Royal] Navy and all that sort of stuff. And I think that, in a way, actually made George push harder for it. My mom, when I was younger, was sort of like, “Is acting really what you want to do?” It sort of makes you want to do it more.
RT: Was there anything in particular about Washington’s early years that surprised you?
Franklyn-Miller: I mean, to be quite frank, it was absolutely everything in the script. And so all these moments he went through, but also the failures he went through, I wasn’t aware of. I think naturally we put these legends, and especially the founding fathers, on a pedestal. But we forget about how they rose and how they became the people that we know them for; and so really, what surprised me was the failures he made and the decisions and the lack of decisions he made growing up. And also surveying: It made so much sense to me why, in his old years, he was so successful at knowing the land. It’s because even in his younger years [he] was exploring.
RT: How did you develop your accent for the role?
Franklyn-Miller: Honestly, it was an absolute nightmare. I’ll be real. It took a lot of work. There was about five or six weeks before we shot. I worked with a beautiful coach, and she had studied this accent for years and years. And a big inspiration was John Adams. That accent throughout that TV series got it at least as close to what they imagined the accent would be like, because there’s actually no historical accounts of the accent. But it’s a mixture of American, I’d say Irish, and then, in a way, Shakespearean English. So it’s a weird hybrid for sure. But hopefully that reads on the screen and it doesn’t sound like I’m doing a terrible American one.
RT: The cast of the film is stacked, with Andy Serkis, Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, and Ben Kingsley. Was it intimidating facing off against the latter? Is there anything that you took away from working with him?
Franklyn-Miller: Definitely. I think intimidating really nails it. I mean, when I first joined the project, I didn’t know they were a part of it. And so there was already pressure. And then when I found out I was like, “Holy s–t. This is gonna be a difficult one to do.” I think in particular with Sir Ben, his scene in the office was so intimidating for me, but in a way pushed me to really try and impress him. Whether I impressed him, who knows? Hopefully I have. It was really interesting to see the differences between what he would choose to do and not to do. And then, for example, Andy Serkis — what he did with the script and what he wouldn’t do and would leave out. Sir Ben had about 15 minutes just to himself in the office where he was like, “Everyone, I just need to change around the set,” and he moved things on the set and he moved posters around and stuff, and I found that really, really intriguing because he didn’t have to do that. You know, as an actor, you don’t have to do that. And for me, it was quite inspirational. You know, obviously, I’m not at the stage yet where I can quickly order people around and change things. But I think for Sir Ben, it really helped him get into character. And even his warm-up: You know, he sort of goes “mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm.” And I started doing that by the end of the film as well. I started creating my own warm-up, and it actually really does help. And so I took a lot of things. It was really inspiring and definitely made me work my ass off.
RT: The United States is about to turn 250. What do you think this film has to say about the country and its inception?
Franklyn-Miller: It’s a great question. I think this film, to put it really basically, is [about] the ambition of this founding father, of George Washington, and what led him to, you know, break away from the British. Even at 21, 22 years old, which is just crazy to think, if you have the ambition and if you can learn from failure, [you can succeed]. Everyone fails in life, and there’s no way to become successful without failure.
RT: This film is very much an underdog story. Is that how you understood the story of America when you were taught it in school in the U.K.?
Franklyn-Miller: Yeah, I suppose so. To be honest, from around six years old to 15, I was in Australia, and I didn’t learn too much about the U.S. And when I went back to the U.K., I do remember that. I mean, there’s no bad blood at all in the U.K. anymore. And I think it’s inspirational even to us. I think it’s just about this young man who did believe in himself and believed in, you know, trusting in his gut and standing up to something. And I think we take a lot from that as well.
RT: Some of the battle and combat scenes are quite gnarly. Was there any difficulty shooting any of those?
Franklyn-Miller: Yeah, they were tough. I mean, this is my first-ever film, so it’s my first time doing any sort of stunts at all. And so everything was new to me. And if that’s the sort of basis on how tough it is, bloody hell, some of these massive movies I’ve watched with battles must [have been] incredibly tough. It was really the costumes and the weight of it all that really struck me. There’s a scene where the plains flood, and we had rain machines, and it was beautiful to see. But the weight that gets put on your shoulders wearing this costume. You mix it with the rain, the mud, the muskets that you’re carrying around, and it’s [so much] heavier. And running around in the mud, it really does take a toll on you. But seeing all the battles and all the background characters really makes you feel like you’re in it. And I love that, and so it was definitely worth it. There was a quote that the director had been saying for a long time: “Pain is temporary, but film is forever.” And that really stuck with me.
RT: Just to widen the scope a bit, do you have any favorite historical dramas? Or was there one that was in the back of your mind when you took on Young Washington?
Franklyn-Miller: I think The Patriot really stuck out for me. That’s something I watched when I was younger and I’ve watched with the family. And I think this film, in a sense, feels like it was filmed around the same time. It’s got that real gritty old-Hollywood style to it, which I really fell in love with when I watched it for the first time. Obviously, the plot is way different. But I really got the [same] vibes.
RT: And you’re in the upcoming The Age of Innocence series on Netflix. What can you say about it?
Franklyn-Miller: I’ve got a small role in that. It’s the end of the show, so I can’t really spoil it too much. But once again, [there are] beautiful costumes. And I find when you’re in these period pieces, the costumes really help you so much in getting into character. It’s almost a cheat code for actors, because you’re given this posture almost instinctively just by putting on a costume. That helps a ton. And it was beautiful. We filmed in Prague for two weeks. Stunning backdrops. They changed it to look like Paris, which was amazing to see.
Young Washington opens in theaters on July 3, 2026.
