History Channel has snagged some Oscar-caliber talent for three separate documentaries: Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner, and nominee Bradley Cooper.
Cooper is executive producing FDR with Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin. The new three-night documentary will premiere on Monday, May 29, at 8 p.m. The project is being called “an epic portrait of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, unpacking how his own fight with polio prepared him for the challenges of leading the United States through the Great Depression and World War II.”
Freeman’s two-hour doc, Black Patriots: The 761st Battalion, “will tell the true story of the first Black tank unit to serve in combat during WWII, and explore in-depth the two major battles they faced – the expansion of Nazism in Europe and racism, oppression, and inequality at home.”
In a statement, the legendary actor calls it an honor to show the public “a story I’ve wanted to tell for more than two decades.”
He adds of these “incredible” men, “Their sacrifice for this country was crucial to our victory over Nazi Germany. But they have never received proper credit.”
Yellowstone star Costner will host and produce Kevin Costner’s The West, another History collabo with Goodwin. “This original series will transcend the clichés and myths of the ‘Wild West’ and … capture the spirit of opportunity, adventure and peril through the diverse, complex characters and untold stories that defined the era and continue to shape our country today.”
Costner said, “[These] people and their stories have always held a fascination for me, but there’s an urgency today to put those times and the men and women who we think we know in perspective, in the context of their times, without judgement.”
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