Sumith Prasad
In Apple TV+’s biographical drama series ‘Franklin,’ Michael Douglas plays Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, with long hair. Even though several of the actor’s features are integral parts of his version of Franklin, arguably none stands out more than his greyish-white hair, which also enhances his appeal as a scholar. While period dramas are often headlined by actors who undergo lengthy makeup schedules, Douglas is an exception. He portrays Franklin as naturally as he can and his hair is a part of his commendable performance!
Michael Douglas’ Long Hair
Michael Douglas plays Franklin with his real hair. The actor, however, also had to use a half wig for the required appearance. “I did grow my own hair out, but just to accentuate it. I had like a half wig,” the actor told Entertainment Tonight. The long hair took Douglas to his past and he considers the same as an add-on journey. “But it was sort of fun at the end of the day, yeah, I was flowing… I was a hippie in another time generation, so [it] kind of brought me back to my roots,” he added. Douglas’ version of Franklin, as far as the hair of the character is concerned, is different from the revolutionary we know.
Franklin is bald in, more or less, all the popular portraits of the statesman. Douglas chose against embracing such an appearance. “I have a high, receding foreheadline. We did a test, we looked at it, and it was not as far back as the later periods of Franklin, but it seemed to work. […] I fooled around with it, but people said, ‘No, you really don’t want to shave your hair up here.’ I tried to stay away from wigs, my hair was long,” the actor told IGN. “It was more a question of production time, and how much time we would lose having to wait for me, number one. Number two, over eight hours, you need the essence of Michael Douglas, rather than somebody all made up for eight hours,” he added.
Douglas also decided against wearing prosthetics to portray Franklin, which makes his appearance natural in the historical drama series. He wasn’t ready to spend hours on a makeup chair for an unrecognizable transformation. “In terms of physical, we did, I did look at that picture [on a $100 bill] and we did say, ‘Well, let’s give it a try with appliances and the whole, the whole work.’ But, it kind of - the producing half of my career took over and I started figuring out, ‘Well, let’s see, the hotel is 45 minutes to the studio. It’s gonna be two, two and a half hours of makeup in the back,'” the actor said in the same Entertainment Tonight interview. “I hate those situations,” he added.
Another significant feature of Douglas’ performance as Franklin is his voice. The actor slowed down his pace of talking and articulated better to be the diplomat in mission. Such attention to detail makes his performance immensely believable or in other words, highly convincing.
Read More: Is Cunegonde Inspired by a Real Noblewoman?
