As America approaches its 250th anniversary, a powerful new film arrives in theaters with the rare gift of reminding us where the American idea was truly forged. In an exclusive conversation with AMFM Magazine’s Paul Salfen, director Jon Erwin and star Kelsey Grammer open up about Young Washington — a decade-in-the-making passion project that follows a young, ambitious George Washington through failure, frontier hardship, first love, and the hero’s journey that prepared him to lead a nation. Shot entirely on location in the elements and featuring one of the strongest ensembles in recent memory, this is the only major theatrical film celebrating America’s origin story timed to the semiquincentennial — and it demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
Before he became the face on the dollar bill and the father of a nation, George Washington was a tall, driven, and often heartbroken young man whose early failures and adventures shaped the leader he would become. That is the story Jon Erwin has carried in his heart for more than a decade.
“This film has been a decade in the making for me,” Erwin tells AMFM Magazine. “It’s one of the top 2 or 3 stories of like, before I die, I want to tell this story. I just fell in love with the story of the American Revolution… and above all, I fell in love with and was just enamored and very curious about the story of Washington and that this mythic figure and father of our nation… was formed, forged in failure and hardship and adventure and risk and as a young man.”
Erwin, the filmmaker behind House of David, American Underdog, and Jesus Revolution, has long been drawn to origin stories and hero’s journeys. With Young Washington he found the perfect intersection: a coming-of-age tale set against the birth of a country. “If you follow my body of work, like with House of David, I love a good hero’s journey,” he says. “And so it’s an honor to tell the story.”
The film introduces William Franklyn-Miller as the young Washington, with Kelsey Grammer stepping into the pivotal role of Lord Fairfax — the powerful mentor figure who launches the young surveyor’s career and stands at the crossroads of a changing world.
Kelsey Grammer has played his share of iconic characters, but stepping into historical figures carries special weight. “You always, when you know you’re playing a historical figure, you can take some license,” Grammer reflects. “You can figure out some story within the context of lines and exchanges and sense of humor. I always presume that people had a sense of humor… I think it humanizes anybody when you get them to laugh a little bit or tell a story with the idea that, ‘Oh that’s recognizable. Oh, those people did that kind of thing.’”
Grammer sees Fairfax as a man caught in the hinge of history. “He does loom large and start at the beginning of George Washington’s story. But he was a figure… on the precipice of historical change. He was of one world and became kind of his own Hegelian dialectic. He fed the machinery that actually made the change.”
“Seek Discomfort” — The Philosophy Behind the Production
Erwin and his team made a deliberate choice that defines the film: they would not shoot on soundstages. They would live the frontier experience alongside their characters.
“What I do is Michael, who plays David in House of David TV show, gave me this ring and it says ‘seek discomfort,’” Erwin shares. “And I like it. And so a lot of times I’m touching this ring, remembering that, as we say in film, pain is temporary, film is forever. And we made a decision on this movie to shoot it 100% on location. 99% of the movie is in camera, and we wanted to be uncomfortable. We wanted to be out in the frontier with Washington, in the rain, in the mud, in the cold. And that’s how we made the movie.”
The result is a visceral, immersive experience. “That’s what I hope the audience feels when they see it… We shot this one in the elements. And I love that idea — we don’t want the journey to be easy. We want the journey to be worth it.”
Grammer nods in agreement: “It’s a great ‘seek discomfort’ line. It really is. I like it a lot. It’s good advice for any time in your life once you think you’ve got something figured out… You should never get too comfortable.”
Young Washington arrives in theaters nationwide on July 3, 2026 — just in time for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. It is, as Erwin notes with quiet pride, “really the only movie in theaters on our 250th that celebrates America’s origin story.”
“This is not a Republican or a Democrat story,” Erwin emphasizes. “This is an American story.”
For audiences weary of division, the film offers something unifying: a reminder that the qualities we admire most in Washington — resilience, humility, courage under pressure, and an inner call to something larger than himself — were not inherited. They were forged.
As Erwin puts it: “People know the name Washington but very few know about this adventure in the early part of his life that shaped the later part of his life… This story is full of adventure. George is young. He encounters his first love and there is romance. I thought of this story as being like Pride and Prejudice meets The Revenant.”
Erwin and Grammer both stress that this is a theatrical experience. The mud, the rain, the cold, the scale of the frontier, and the emotional weight of a young man discovering who he is meant to become are meant to be felt in a darkened theater with an audience.
“Don’t miss it on the big screen,” the filmmakers urge.
Young Washington opens in theaters July 3, 2026. Pre-order tickets and learn more at angel.com/250.
