Q&A with David McCullough about HBO's John Adams
Reader Jim Vanner sent me a link to this Q&A with historian David McCullough from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
McCullough is the author of some of my favorite historical biographies, and in this Q&A he talks about the John Adams miniseries HBO has created around his bestselling biography.
McCullough has had really good experiences with HBO so far -- they produced the excellent Truman, based on his Pultizer-prize winning biography of Harry S. Truman. He has high praise for what they've done with John Adams as well.
The author says of the min-series' gritty realism:
"It's going to be the 18th century -- and particularly, of course, the 18th century in this country -- as Americans have never seen it before. It's not a costume pageant; it's the way life was. You are going to see people with bad teeth and dirt under their fingernails. You are going to see a man tarred and feathered and it's going to be hard to watch, it's so awful. It wasn't just a sort of high school prank. Tar-and-feathering was torture. People died from it. You are going to experience the horror of smallpox and of someone having a leg amputated without anesthetics. It's very real and entirely in keeping with the way it was."
Comments (3)
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That's great to hear HBO is also turning "1776" into a movie. Another great book that peels back the layers of folklore, fairy tales and stereotypes.
Posted on March 25, 2008 9:31 AM
Ugh, just reading about tar-and-feathering and amputation makes me shiver. As much as I appreciate historical accuracy and I hate it when horrors of the past like that are glossed over, I think I'd have to leave the room for those scenes.
Posted on March 25, 2008 12:38 PM
Yeah - both are pretty awful.
Tarring and feathering is something that I really haven't ever seen in a movie -- and McCullough is right, it sort of seems quaint before you actually see it. Then it's just awful...and it makes you think less of the "patriots" who were doing it. Which is sort of the point.
In the first installment John Adams turns to his more radical cousin Sam during the tarring and says:
"Can you condone this? A brutal and illegal act committed to enforce a political principal? Can you, Sam?"
Sam initially argues that this is what happens when people are oppressed -- but by the end he looks broken and ready to vomit.
If you want to catch up on any of the first three installments, I can loan them to you.
Posted on March 25, 2008 9:35 PM