Ayla Ruby
Apple TV+ has established a name for itself with richly detailed shows that transport you to another time and place while you’re viewing them. Franklin, released in April of this year, is one of their newest forays into the world of history and covers a figure that looms large over American History: Benjamin Franklin. The miniseries is based on a book by Stacy Schiff called A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America and it that details the founding father’s unconventional work and life overseas. More than just a historical drama, it’s an exciting story (with tall ships! Versailles! and more!) that really spends time characters and takes the audience on a journey. The cast of the show boasts a ton of talent – including actor Noah Jupe.
Noah Jupe started his acting career in television but is perhaps best known for his work on film. His breakout role in Honey Boy in 2019 earned him several critics nominations for his work. Franklin is a return to the young actor’s roots. In the miniseries, Jupe plays William Temple Franklin, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin (Michael Douglas), and his co-adventurer as the American statesman made his case for the country overseas.
Over Zoom, we chatted with Jupe about bringing Franklin’s grandson to life for the screen. He talked about joining the show and doing a ton of research before stepping into the role. Jupe even learned French, and filming in the country made such an impact on him personally that he’s considering living in Paris long-term. The show takes place over almost a decade of time, and Jupe got into details about what it was like portraying teenage Temple versus young adult Temple. Read on for the full conversation, or listen to the audio above.
Ayla Ruby: You’ve done such a lovely job with this show, so I’m very excited to chat.
Noah Jupe: Oh, that’s so kind. Thank you so much.
Ayla Ruby: Can you talk a little bit about your journey to Franklin? How did you get on board and what made you want to do this project?
Noah Jupe: I got a call from my team and they sort of just pitched me the project, which took about three seconds, because it’s just like, “Hey, it’s Michael Douglas, Tim Van Patten and Kirk Ellis,” and they’re doing a show set in Paris, filming in Paris for an entire year. “Do you want to do it?” And it’s like, “Of course”. They were like, “Yeah, they just want to meet you and talk through it and have some conversations”.
And me and Tim and Kirk had a few conversations about the project over Zoom, and then, I got the job and I was over the moon. I was so, so excited, and then, just started getting right into it, into the research because… Ultimately, all I knew about the American Revolution was just that Benjamin Franklin was on the hundred dollars bill and that was about it. So, I had a lot to catch up on. Yeah. But that was fun, and I learned more doing that than I’ve ever learned in a history lesson at school. So, it was good.
Ayla Ruby: What was your research process like for this? How did you go about that? What did you do?
Noah Jupe: I started, I think… First of all, I started with the American Revolution, and actually, I watched John Adams, which was quite informative actually. And then, also, read A Great Improvisation, the book that sort of the show is based on. That was helpful, that was very dense and a lot of information, but it was helpful. Not a lot about Temple in there, my character. So, it was, yeah, I had to do a little bit of external research online about Temple. Went to visit his grave in Paris.
And also, I’ve got to admit that I had probably one of the most knowledgeable people I know about that sort of history at my fingertip, because Kirk was living right next to me in Paris, and he is just like, anything you want to know, he can tell you within an instant. So, I just sort of utilize that and would go to dinner with him and just ask him questions and, yeah, that was great.
Ayla Ruby: So, there’s a historical bit, but as an actor, this is a big challenge as well. How do you get into the mindset and find the truth of Temple? How do you approach that?
Noah Jupe: I think that there’s a part of the show, which is, obviously, very historical and is something that is very interesting, but I think there’s also a part of it in which you need to connect the audience first in order to have them be excited about learning the history. You want to sort of reel them in with the characters, and then, they’ll subconsciously take in the information about the historical elements.
I’m saying, on average, I feel like there’s a lot of people that do love the history as well. So, I think, for me, it was about creating a story first, and, obviously, it’s a true story, but making sure that it was a story and it had a journey, and my character went from one place to the other, and every scene was a journey towards that end goal. And I think that that was really important for me to keep the creative part there and the emotional part, and not get too overwhelmed by, oh, did Temple do this exact thing?
Because, ultimately, I saw where he started, I saw where he ended up, and then, you sort of fill in the gaps with your paintbrush to create the overarching journey. And I think that that is important, and that’s, potentially, why the show is more than just a historical drama.
Ayla Ruby: For all the characters, there’s like this eight-year spread going on in the show. But for your character, you start off as this 16-year-old, and then you end up as an adult.
How do you approach that? Did you have a different mindset, okay, I’m playing teenage him versus, now, I’m playing this grown up?
Noah Jupe: Yeah. I think that was the biggest thing to me, because we were quite adamant that like I didn’t necessarily want to change anything about my appearance, because I feel like that’s sort of a little bit too obvious and can feel a little bit strange, sometimes, especially if I’m playing up. I don’t look 26, I don’t look 25, I know that, but…
So, think it was more of a psychological thing and making sure that I mapped out the series as a whole and had those points of change and development and making sure that, if I did a scene after this pivotal scene, I had matured a little bit or had grown, making sure I had the timeline, because I think, we shot it all out of order. And I was doing scenes from episode eight the first week of shooting.
Ayla Ruby: Oh.
Noah Jupe: So, I think that it was important to have it all mapped out and be able to put things into perspective and move all the puzzle pieces around, so that when you put it together, you had that journey.
But, yeah, it was difficult. It was really difficult, just sort of… Because it’s over such a long period of time.
Ayla Ruby: There’s just so much in this mini-series, right? A lot of the series is in French. I think I’ve read that you didn’t know French when you started, and that…
Noah Jupe:Yeah.
Ayla Ruby: Can you talk about that?
Noah Jupe: Yeah. I’ve always loved French. I’ve always loved French movies. I’ve always wanted to learn the language, but I’ve never actually learnt it. So, it was a bit of a dream come true, and they were like, “Oh, by the way, your character’s like, 60% of his dialogue is in French. You’ve been there for six years, so you need to sound fluent”.
And I was like, okay, and just whipped out Duolingo and off you go. No, but I had the dialect coach and French coach named Dany Héricourt, was amazing, and she helped teach me some French. I think also just being in Paris, I had met some friends on set, off set, and I would just sort of go out and try and speak French with them.
And when you’re surrounded by the accent, by the culture, by the rhythm of it, it becomes sort of easy to access that. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not fluent in French at all, but I did get a sense of feeling authentically French when I was speaking the dialogue. Because I was lucky enough to have the lines written down for me, so there wasn’t-
Ayla Ruby: That helps.
Noah Jupe: It helps. And there wasn’t improvising, but it was just making the lines sound believable. That was the tough part.
Ayla Ruby: So, obviously, you were in France, what was filming in France, like what was that experience like? What can you share about that?
Noah Jupe: It was a dream, honestly. It’s one of those things, when you’re in it, you just look around and you go, “I’m never going to have an experience like this for the rest of my life”. I have others that are just as great or different, but filming in Paris, I lived in the most beautiful apartment in the 6th arrondissement. I got to go to work every day at like the opera house or Versailles. And I think that you just… Being part of that, I made sure to take in as much as I possibly could, because I was so lucky and I’m so grateful I had that opportunity.
And I really fell in love with Paris and France and… Yeah, I think I’m deciding between London and Paris, where I want to live long term. But yeah, it had that much of an effect on me.
Ayla Ruby: Wow.
Noah Jupe: And it was really, really very special.
Ayla Ruby: That’s amazing. So, outside… There’s, obviously, a costume process, too, because this is a period piece and the costumes are quite involved.
I think you had an Instagram post where I saw some of your… like in the chair, I guess, in the chair looks.
Noah Jupe: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Ayla Ruby: What was that like? How long were you typically in the chair? Can you talk about all that?
Noah Jupe: I think the difference between the first day on set and the last day on set in terms of how long it took was like two hours to 30 minutes. Yeah, it got quicker as we got into the rhythm of things, which was great.
But also, I had two different types of days. I had no-wig days and wig days. And no-wig days were very exciting to me, because I could just be relaxed. And wig days just felt like, you had a bunch of plastic surgery in your face and your face being like, from all sides. But yeah, it was good. It helped. The more flamboyant the costume, the tighter the costume is, more layers, the tighter the wig… It tightens you up and it gives you that sense of like stiffness and elegance that they potentially had in that time period, and it just helps you connect into that way more.
But, yeah, it was… I tell you what, one of the best feelings that I’ve ever experienced in my entire life was taking the wig off at the end of the day, and my hairstylist would just wash my hair and give me a head massage, and I’ve never felt anything like that in my entire life. It was so good. It was amazing.
Ayla Ruby: That must’ve been fantastic, especially after many hours of filming.
Noah Jupe: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
Ayla Ruby: You’ve talked about some of the challenges so far, some of the things that came up with filming. Was there anything that was just really challenging, or really professionally-gratifying that you were able to make happen with Franklin?
Noah Jupe: I think I’ve got to say bringing it back to the French, just in terms of, there were so many incredible French actors, and a few of them, their English isn’t particularly that good. But there was this middle ground that we would be able to meet at, where we’d be able to act in French together, both sort of knowing what the other one was saying. And I was able to learn off all of these actors that I normally wouldn’t be able to because they’re not normally in American, British movies.
And I think that that was just very, very gratifying and very difficult, but insanely-rewarding at the end of it. And just being able to… Because acting in French is, the fundamentals are the same, but it’s a different thing, there’s a different rhythm to it. It felt like I was singing more.
Ayla Ruby: Oh.
Noah Jupe: Yeah. It was weird. It was way more beautiful. So, just being able to experience that was tough to get to, but very, very rewarding at the end. Yeah.
Ayla Ruby: Now, also, in addition to these amazing French actors, you worked with Michael Douglas and that was, you mentioned one of the reasons for your yes on signing onto this. What was that like, and did you get any advice for just this show or anything else from him?
Noah Jupe: Yeah. He’s just wonderful. He’s so professional, he’s so passionate and energetic. He has this incredible… He’s had so much experience. He’s one of the most experienced people on a film set, I think, probably alive. And so, that, for me, is just… Really awesome to see how, through the years, he’s learned and picked up all these different things and how he works, and still, keeps a good head on him, switched on.
And, yeah, I think he’s… Just watching him and seeing how he’s treated people on set and his kindness and his ability to listen taught me an insane amount. Yeah, I hope, one day, to be half the actor that he is.
Ayla Ruby: Oh, I think that’s a lovely note to end on. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk.
Noah Jupe: Thank you so much, too. It’s great to meet you.
Ayla Ruby: Great to meet you, too. Thank you, Sarah.
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