As John Adams? Really? You’re serious about that? Whose idea was this? Mind you, I do like the guy. I think he’s a gifted and intelligent actor. And his dad, I’m told, was a pretty good university president (plus: the baseball thing).
But Paul Giamatti can’t play John Adams. Or at least he can’t based on what I saw on tv tonight. Adams was famously (infamously?) sardonic and pompous. Convinced that he was the smartest guy in the room, even when the other occupants included Franklin and Jefferson, Adams didn’t suffer fools — or even geniuses — gladly. Giamatti, whose range extends from neurotic to nerdy, with occasional detours into petulant, seemingly has no clue how to embody a man like Adams. He might, though, be a good choice to play me, should the biopic Eric’s been considering ever get off the ground. So, despite my plan to live-blog the whole HBO series, I won’t be tuning in again. Even though Laura Linney is still teh awesome.
The Edge of the American West 
17 comments
March 16, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Michael
I wasn’t wild about him either, but when I saw the flags in the opening sequence, I was wondering–what’s up with displaying America as a snake (either a disconnected snake in Franklin’s “Join or Die”, or a fully-bodied one in the “Don’t Tread on Me”)? And what happened to that?
March 16, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Jesse
No, not Giamatti either. But after reading Founding Brothers, a particularly sharp student of mine once suggested Danny DeVito. I know, I know: Italian, not particularly intellectual, Puritan, or WASPy.
But still: short, choleric, you know?
He (the student, not Danny DeVito) thought Hugh Grant would be a good Jefferson, too.
March 17, 2008 at 3:11 am
matt w
Tracy Morgan as Jefferson!
March 17, 2008 at 4:27 am
Martinius
Wasn’t this one of the problems with the McCullough biography — that it sanded off all Adams’s hard edges, made him gentle and conciliatory instead of, as you write, sardonic and pompous?
So you could say that Giamatti is just following his source material…
March 17, 2008 at 5:45 am
Historiann
Giamatti is a good choice, in that it’s not flattering to Adams, who was famously short and ugly. I’m sorry to hear that Ari didn’t believe him as Adams. But Martinius makes a good point–no one would really want to spend hours and days reading about and/or watching the *real* John Adams, so McCullough had to invent his version of Adams.
March 17, 2008 at 6:07 am
Steve Balboni
Thanks, I was starting to feel upset that I had cancelled my HBO et al too soon. Sounds like I’m not missing much.
March 17, 2008 at 6:44 am
dware
Yeah, Stevem but we’re both missing several hours of what sounds like good work by Laura Linney.
We’re not on HBO so I’m missing it too, but it will be in the Netflix que, along with all the other movies that a civil service job, teaching, a six-year-old daughter and two overactive terriers are causing me to miss. By the time I get to Adams, I may even have upgraded to a Blu-Ray player.
As for the McCullough biography, it did seem to present a “kinder, gentler” Adams–but anyone who was assigned “The Book of
Abigail and John” in Early US survey should know that there was more to Adams’s personality than prickliness, irascability and bombast. But oh, how he could grouse. And vilify. And react. Alien and Sedition Acts, anyone?
March 17, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Historiann » Can you play short, ugly, and second-worst?
[…] the second-worst President in American history. Ari over at Edge of the American West finds the casting unconvincing, mostly because he doesn’t think Giamatti’s John Adams captures Adams’ truly […]
March 17, 2008 at 3:58 pm
teofilo
It’s true that Giamatti’s Adams doesn’t seem much like the real Adams (I haven’t read McCollough’s book, so I can’t weigh in on whose fault this is), but I thought the rest of the casting was good enough to make up for it. Franklin and Jefferson in particular are excellent. I have a feeling that Adams himself is going to end up being the least interesting character in the show as a whole.
March 17, 2008 at 4:02 pm
ari
I totally agree, Teo. But I found it incredibly hard to watch Giamatti in this role. And since the camera is on him most of the time, I found it really hard to watch the show. That said, it’s better than the execrable Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. (Talk about a low bar. Also: I dig the word “execrable.” It’s not like it’s rare or anything. Still, it gets the job done.)
March 17, 2008 at 4:26 pm
teofilo
I didn’t find it so hard to watch Giamatti; I think you have to approach it as if he’s playing a totally different character from the historical Adams who just happens to do all the same things.
March 17, 2008 at 4:28 pm
ari
That might help. Maybe I’ll try it. Or, the time I was going to spend on the series could just be found time, a windfall of sorts.
March 17, 2008 at 5:30 pm
lanphuong
Where we tonight shall camp?….The top blogs of the day. the newest report , see and reply me some comments. Thanks.
March 24, 2008 at 8:09 am
lemming
David McC’s book is good, but in leaving out the rough bits I think he also loses some of the most intriguing bits. The two younger sons led miserable lives and died young, but they just kind of disappear from the radar. Try Paul Nagel “Decent From Glory” instead.
March 25, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Adams « Sunlit Water
[…] detail are first-rate, while the portrayal of Adams himself is pretty far off. Not only is Paul Giamatti not much like Adams in any way, his role in events does seem a bit […]
July 27, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Melody Clark
One thing that annoys me beyond measure is people basing an opinion on a public figure based on one or two books. John Adams was no more pompous and self-important than anyone else running around that particular movement. He’s a VASTLY underrated and unfairly disparaged symbol of the American Revolution … largely because he wasn’t a very good politician. He spoke his mind — he was honest. But after Jefferson had stabbed him in the back, Adams (who could have destroyed Jefferson with everything he knew) had the character to not do to his once and future friend what Jefferson did to him. Yet Jefferson is the towering hero of our revolution. Well, not to those of us familiar with the real story.
I’ve read dozens of books on John Adams, I’ve been to all his homes, and I’ve stood beside his crypt — I can think of no better symbol of the best of our revolution than Mr. Adams.
As for Giamatti, I had reservations at first but he completely won me over. He was brilliant in the role, which is obvious from his Emmy nomination (he will win the award … no one in the category can touch him).
And David’s book wasn’t “good”, it was a Pulitzer Prize winning work of art. The script left NOTHING out — I suggest you go re-read both as I have.
July 27, 2008 at 11:07 pm
ari
You want me to re-read McCullough’s book and look over the script for the HBO series? I hope you’ll forgive me if I decline — no matter how impressed I may be by your passionate defense of Adams. Still and all, I stand by my assessment of Giamatti: he’s an excellent actor, one of my favorites, but was miscast in this role.