"We tend to forget what was behind the face...The struggles, the emotions, what makes us all human."- William Martin

He is the most famous of America's founding fathers, the legendary general who led the revolution that changed the world. But before he became that man-the man who sacrificed to the greater good the chance to be America's first monarch--George Washington was, among other things, a grasping, land-hungry young surveyor, a swindler, and a self-conscious, insecure military officer who often blamed others for his own mistakes.

The personal development of George Washington is the focus of George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King. Sutherland brings to life a uniquely human Washington, a man who transformed himself from a social climber into a patriot willing to give up everything for a higher cause.

As William Martin, the film's writer and narrator, puts it, "We tend to forget what was behind the face...The struggles, the emotions, what makes us all human. As a young man, he put all his failings onstage for the whole world to see. But he changed and grew, and he found someplace within himself the man he wanted to be."*

After hundreds of hours of interviews, six months of research and re-creating battle scenes, Sutherland has created a story that lets us in on an American myth. With "The Man Who Wouldn't Be King," Sutherland shows us that a hero is made and not born.

* Quote taken from "George Lied" by Sara Terry from The Boston Globe Magazine, 11/15/92