After Classics Like ‘Sopranos’ And ‘Game Of Thrones’, Tim Van Patten Heads To France For A Different Look At Benjamin Franklin With Michael Douglas – Behind The Lens

Timothy Van Patten has faced down Tony Soprano, the challenges of Game of Thrones, and all those women on Sex and the City to name just a few of his notable directing gigs. But this season he went in a entirely new direction when he joined with Michael Douglas to present a look at Benjamin Franklin you might never have known.

Van Patten joins me at our PMC studio in New York City for this new episode of my Deadline video series Behind the Lens to talk about his ambitious Apple TV+ limited series Franklin, which casts Douglas (who won an Emmy playing Liberace, but this is his first real historical period piece) as the American icon who traveled to Paris shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed and proved a key factor in forging the Franco-American alliance of 1778. The series was shot entirely on location including at Versailles (but only on Mondays when it was closed), and Van Patten was behind the camera calling the shots for all eight episodes, a rare occurrence for most expansive limited series these days. With scripts by Kirk Ellis (Emmy winner for John Adams) and Howard Korder, Van Patten was able to bring this little-known piece of history to vivid life.

He certainly has the experience to pull off all this, having directed numerous classic hours of television that, including those listed above, which won him two Emmys, two DGA Awards and a Peabody for the likes of Boardwalk Empire, The Pacific, Deadwood, Rome, The Wire, Black Mirror, Perry Mason, Homicide: Life on the Street, Touched By an Angel and countless other shows. He started off as an actor like many in his famous showbiz family tree including Dick Van Patten, Joyce Van Patten and others including his daughter Grace Van Patten. You might recall Tim as Mario “Salami” Pettrino in The White Shadow, but it is in the directing chair where he really has made his mark.

To watch our conversation and to go “behind the lens” with Tim Van Patten, watch the video above.

Join me every Monday and Friday during Emmy season for another episode of Behind the Lens.