Carl Franklin

Carl Franklin
Carl Franklin
	Franklin in 1977
Born	Carl Michael Franklin; April 11, 1949 (age 75); Richmond, California, U.S.
Education	University of California, Berkeley (BA); American Film Institute (MFA)
Occupation(s)	Film director, television director, actor, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1973–present

Carl Franklin (born April 11, 1949)^[1] is an American filmmaker and former actor. Franklin is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and continued his education at the AFI Conservatory, where he graduated with an M.F.A. degree in directing in 1986.

His cinematic directorial efforts include One False Move, Devil in a Blue Dress and High Crimes. Since the 2010s, most of his work has been for television, including shows such as: Rome, The Pacific, The Newsroom, House of Cards, Homeland, The Affair, The Leftovers, 13 Reasons Why, Ray Donovan, Mindhunter and Dahmer.

Early life

Franklin grew up in Richmond, California.^[2]

He never had the opportunity to know his biological father, who had died before Carl was born. Franklin was raised by his mother and stepfather. While Franklin speaks highly of his stepfather and has called him "very loving",^[3] he has spoken about his stepfather's abusive tendencies, linking his outbursts to alcohol use. Problems at home combined with life in a tough neighborhood fueled Franklin's ambition to be the first in his family to attend college. He was awarded a scholarship to University of California, Berkeley. Franklin's initial desires to become a teacher or lawyer led him to study history upon his arrival at the university. However, after two years, Franklin changed his major to theater arts. Franklin did not actively participate in the many demonstrations at Berkeley in the period. Describing the scene, Franklin told the LA Times: "It was like a dream to me, I wasn't really sophisticated enough to join a particular movement."^[2]

Acting career

After graduation, Franklin made his theater debut as a slave in The Public Theater's production of Timon of Athens. He would go on to act in Mark Taper Forum's production of In the Belly of the Beast.^[2]

One of his first jobs was acting in the New York Shakespeare Festival, where he appeared in the Twelfth Night and Cymbeline.

Franklin began his on-screen career in the film Five on the Black Hand Side in 1973. From there, he acted in a string of guest roles on television shows such as Barnaby Jones; episode titled "Focus on Fear" (January 31, 1980). The Rockford Files, Good Times, The Incredible Hulk and The Streets of San Francisco.^[3] Over the years, Franklin's looks have typically landed him roles portraying men of power, such as members of the police force or military officials.

Between 1975 and 1985 Franklin was a regular cast member in four TV series. The first, ABC's Caribe in 1975, was a law enforcement drama that aired 13 episodes and cast him as police sergeant Mark Walters. Two years later, NBC's fantasy-science fiction series The Fantastic Journey lasted for 10 episodes, with Franklin as athletic young physician Dr. Fred Walters. After four more years, a two-hour television film, McClain's Law, led to Franklin's second police series titled, per the telefilm, McClain's Law, a modern-day NBC vehicle for Gunsmoke star James Arness, with Franklin fifth-billed as police detective Jerry Cross, but the 1981–82 series only lasted 14 episodes. Franklin's longest lasting and most recognizable acting role was his 1983–85 portrayal of Captain Crane on the popular action-adventure series The A-Team.^[1]

Film career

Inspired by the low-budget films of the 1980s, such as Chan Is Missing (1982), Franklin enrolled at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles in 1986.^[2]

His 30-minute AFI thesis film Punk is about an African-American boy in South-central Los Angeles dealing with his sexuality and manhood.^[4]

Straight out of his Master's program, Franklin landed a job with movie producer-director Roger Corman in 1989.

While working at Concord Films, Franklin gained experience working on low-budget films, helping to crank out six films in just two years' time. From 1989 to 1990, Franklin worked on Nowhere to Run, Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy, and Full Fathom Five, respectively, under Concord Films.

At the end of the 80s, producer Jesse Beaton was looking for a director for a film called One False Move. Remembering Franklin's short film Punk, Beaton met Carl to discuss the film's vision.^[5] Franklin's approach to the screenplay produced a thriller of the film noir genre. The story follows three drug dealers, played by Billy Bob Thornton, Cynda Williams, and Michael Beach and their interactions with a small-town Arkansas police chief played by Bill Paxton.^[1] Far from his low-budget past, Franklin's budget of $2 million gave him a bit of room to be creative, and achieve his entire vision for the film.^[5] However, the original version of the film, which was released in 1991, was thought to be overly violent. In response to such claims, Franklin told the Observer, "I didn't want people getting excited seeing how neat someone can be killed... I want the audience to feel the emotional loss of life--the real violence is the loss, the violation of humanity. They've taken from us someone who had dreams, hopes, the same set of emotions we have."^[1]

Despite the film's lack of professional publicity, One False Move was largely promoted by word of mouth and earned itself mixed reviews. However, the reviews that were positive were very positive, gaining the project more attention. The film was named Best Film of the Year by Gene Siskel, and one of the 10 Best Films of 1992 by the National Review Board.^[6]

Franklin collaborated with producers Jonathan Demme and Jesse Beaton on adapting Walter Mosley's novel Devil in a Blue Dress after Demme acquired its film rights. Franklin directed and wrote the screenplay for the film on a US$21,000,000 budget.^[2] The film starred Denzel Washington as Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins.

Switching to television, Franklin directed Laurel Avenue, a two-part miniseries focused on an African-American family in Minnesota for HBO in 1993.^[5] One issue in particular that stood out in the series was the issue of drug use. Franklin defended his depictions, explaining that "Drugs are a huge problem in the black community.^[3] Not to include that would be a stupid oversight. But if the subject of drugs is introduced in the context of a hardworking family that has managed to maintain unity, and the audience sees drugs as a threat to that unity, they get a much greater understanding of the problem."

Following Laurel Avenue, Franklin found himself maintaining A-list status, which allowed him to work on bigger and more visible projects, such as 1998's One True Thing. The film is an adaptation of an autobiographical story by New York journalist Anna Quindlen, following a woman (Renée Zellweger) with no option but to leave Manhattan for the small town where she was raised when her mother (Meryl Streep) is diagnosed with cancer.

Franklin went on to direct High Crimes, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, and Out of Time, which reunited him with Devil in a Blue Dress star Denzel Washington. Since then, Franklin has largely transitioned to high-profile television work. He has worked on two series produced by Steven Spielberg, directing the pilot of science fiction drama Falling Skies and an episode of the World War II drama The Pacific. He has also collaborated on two series with David Fincher, directing four episodes each of House of Cards and Mindhunter. Franklin directed multiple critically acclaimed episodes of the HBO series The Leftovers, across all three of its seasons. His prolific television credits also include Rome, The Newsroom, Homeland, Ray Donovan, and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

Unrealized projects

After Devil in a Blue Dress, Franklin and Denzel Washington planned to collaborate on a trilogy of films based on the Easy Rawlins character, but this never materialized.^[7]

In 1997, it was reported that Franklin had dropped out of directing Brokedown Palace, citing "creative differences" over the casting of the film.^[8] Jonathan Kaplan took over for Franklin following his departure.^[9]

In 1999, Franklin was attached as the director of the sci-fi film The Mothman Prophecies, with Richard Gere starring, before Mark Pellington was chosen.^[10]

Franklin was attached to direct Will Smith in the fourth remake of the musical A Star Is Born for Warner Bros., though Smith passed up the role in order to star in Ali.^[11]

In 2001, Franklin was announced to direct and produce a film adaptation of the novel Rescue Me, by Gigi Levangie, who sold the rights to Fox Searchlight. As of the announcement, no screenwriter was attached to adapt the story.^[12]

In 2002, it was reported that writer Sid Quashie was tapped by Paramount Pictures to adapt Susan Kelly's 1995 book The Boston Stranglers, with Franklin attached to direct. The film was scheduled to go into production that summer, with Gale Anne Hurd and Jesse Beaton producing.^[13]

In 2003, Franklin was set to direct the legal thriller The Emperor of Ocean Park for Warner Bros. Pictures from the novel by Stephen L. Carter, adapted by Stephen Schiff.^[14]

In early 2007, Franklin had been attached to direct the legal drama Tulia for Lionsgate Films, starring Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton. Karen Croner wrote the script for the film, based on the Nate Blakeslee book Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town. In August that year, John Singleton took over directing duties from Franklin, who departed from the project.^[15] The film was not made.

On July 23, 2007, it was reported that Franklin would direct The Maintenance Man, the Screen Gems adaptation of Michael Baisden's novel about a gigolo in existential crisis, set to begin shooting later that year.^[16]

On July 31, 2007, it was reported that Franklin would direct Snitch for New Line Cinema, a thriller produced by Guy East and Nigel Sinclair inspired by true events chronicled in a PBS Frontline documentary. Justin Haythe, who wrote the screenplay, was to executive produce the film along with Franklin's producing partner Jesse Beaton.^[17]

On February 8, 2011, Peter Facinelli was reported to write the script for, star in and co-produce the indie crime drama El Chico Blanco, with Franklin directing. Titan Worldwide Entertainment was financing the project, which would have been shot in New Mexico.^[18]

On May 29, 2012, Meyers Media Group and McDonald Entertainment announced that they would co-finance the thriller City of Night, to be directed by Franklin, written by David Chisholm and produced by Brendan McDonald. Set against the backdrop of South Central L.A., the film follows a rookie cop who becomes the target of an elaborate psychological game to destroy him. A date for principal photography was soon to be announced,^[19] but the project did not move forward.

In March 2013, it was reported that Franklin would direct a biopic about the life of soul music singer/songwriter Sam Cooke. ABKCO Records was set to independently produce the project.^[20] As of 2015, Franklin was still developing the film, which was then in the process of being cast from a script he wrote himself, based on Peter Guralnick's biography Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.^[21]

In April 2015, Franklin replaced John Singleton as director of Morgan Creek's Tupac, a biopic written by Jeremy Haft and Ed Gonzalez about rapper Tupac Shakur. Casting for the role was reportedly under way, with principal photography planned to begin in August or September.^[22]

In May 2016, Franklin was announced to be directing a film adaptation of William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust. Our House Productions held the rights to produce the adaptation of the 1948 novel, with distribution rights for the project being sold at that year's Cannes Film Festival.^[23]

In July 2016, John Malkovich signed on to star in and executive produce Humboldt, a TV drama series to be directed by Franklin, inspired by Emily Brady's best-selling book Humboldt: Life on America's Marijuana Frontier. The project was written on spec by Michael A. Lerner, and set up at Sony Pictures Television and Anonymous Content.^[24] Despite Franklin's prolific career in television, this never came to fruition either.

In 2023, Franklin expressed interest in someday directing a feature length film of his AFI short Punk.^[25]

Race and film

Franklin says "I am interested in the universal values of the black experience."^[6]

Discussing the realities for black Americans in the television and film industry, Franklin said: "When I came up, the only legitimate dramatic actor was Sidney Poitier, the bankable star was Richard Pryor and the other choice roles were action parts that went to Jim Brown. Even someone as good as Billy Dee Williams had a couple of great moments and then couldn't get a decent part."^[2]

Personal life

Franklin married film producer Jesse Beaton, who produced One False Move (1992).^[7]

Filmography

Film

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer
1986	Punk	Yes	Yes

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Writer
1989	Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy	Yes	Yes
1989	Nowhere to Run	Yes	No
1992	One False Move	Yes	No
1995	Devil in a Blue Dress	Yes	Yes
1998	One True Thing	Yes	No
2002	High Crimes	Yes	No
2003	Out of Time	Yes	No
2012	Bless Me, Ultima	Yes	Yes

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Five on the Black Hand Side	Marvin	Credited as Carl Mikal Franklin
1989	Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy	Colonel Rawlins
1989	Last Stand at Lang Mei	Sergeant T. Deveraux
1992	In the Heat of Passion	Detective Rooker

Television

Director

Year	Title	Notes
1993	Laurel Avenue	2 episodes
1999	Partners	5 episodes
2007	Rome	Episode: "A Necessary Fiction"
2007	The Riches	Episode: "Pilot"
2009	Last of the Ninth	Unsold HBO pilot
2010	The Pacific	Episode: "Peleliu Landing"
2011	Falling Skies	Episode: "Live and Learn"
2012	Magic City	Episode: "The Year of the Fin"
2013	The Newsroom	Episode: "Unintended Consequences"
2013–2014	House of Cards	4 episodes
2013–2014	Homeland	Episodes: "Gerontion" and "Redux"
2014	The Affair	2 episodes
2014–2017	The Leftovers	4 episodes
2015	Bloodline	Episode: "Part 12"
2016	Vinyl	Episode: "Rock and Roll Queen"
2016	Good Behavior	Episode: "Only The Best For Mrs. Diaz"
2016–2017	Chance	2 episodes
2017	13 Reasons Why	2 episodes
	Ten Days in the Valley	Episode: "Day 1: Fade In"
	Ray Donovan	Episode: "Michael"
2019	I Am the Night	2 episodes
2019	Mindhunter	4 episodes
2022	Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story	Episode: "Bad Meat"
2024	Manhunt	2 episodes
2024	American Sports Story	2 episodes