“Greater Than Yourself”: Young Washington Screenwriter Diederik Hoogstraten on Lessons Learned from the Life of George Washington

Young Washington tells the coming-of-age story of a young George Washington before he became the father of our nation. As he is thrown into the middle of a global conflict, he must confront his enemies on the battlefield, as well as the man he is becoming inside, as he is shaped into the beloved leader who would ultimately become America’s first president. Directed by Jon Erwin (House of David), and released through Angel Studios, the film fittingly hits theaters on July 3rd and coincides with the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.

Screenwriter Diederik Hoogstraten joined The Collision to talk about the process of bringing the near-mythic historical figure to life, celebrating the “American spirit”, and what he hopes audiences will take away from the inspirational story.

(Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation above.)  

Daniel Blackaby: George Washington is a fascinating individual. There are a lot of stories that could be told about his life. How did you go about determining what to cover in this film?

Diederik Hoogstraten: As a writer, I was paired up with Jon Erwin (Jesus Revolution, American Underdog, House of David). Jon is just a visionary, terrific filmmaker, and he had this idea of telling the origin story—the coming-of-age story—of George Washington.

It was always clear that we were going to start the film with George at age 11, when he lost his father. A traumatic moment for any kid to lose a parent at that age, right? He was left with his siblings and his mom on a farm. As a result, George couldn’t go to school and certainly couldn’t go to England.

People might not realize this, but young George Washington desperately wanted to be British. He either wanted to be part of the British colonial elite, or better yet, he wanted to go to England and be with them and be like them. But thank goodness he was never accepted into those circles, because ultimately that allowed him to fight for independence and become our first president.

So, we knew we were going to start at age 11, and Jon also knew he wanted to limit the coming-of-age story to about age 23. That’s when young Commander Washington really starts leading the Virginia Regiment for the first time.

That’s still 12 years—a long time—and a tremendous amount happened during that period. There are battles, losses, and failures. There’s a girl he has a crush on who he doesn’t get. There are party scenes. There’s a lot going on. We picked some of the biggest moments that are visually and cinematically interesting, but that also told us a lot about the man he would become.

Blackaby: As you worked to get into the headspace of a man who would grow up to become this mythic presidential figure, what was the essence of character that, even at an early age, you wanted to make sure you conveyed in the story?

Hoogstraten: Our goal was truly to make him more relatable. He can be very austere. Like many great men and women from history, sometimes revere them to the point of keeping our distance. We don’t want to get too close.

Jon Erwin and I felt very strongly that we needed to make him as human as we can so people could relate and admire him even more. A big part of that was showing his resilience. This boy and young man went through so much—hardships, challenges, failures—and it made him resilient.

His integrity also started to rise above in response to all that tragedy. When he starts losing battles as a very young commander of this brand-new regiment in Virginia, there are real consequences. It’s not just that he has to retreat—men lose their lives, families lose their sons.

We tried to show that, as a young man, George didn’t always know what he was doing. Sometimes his ambition got in his way. He failed. But the key point is not just that he got up again, but that he carried the consequences of these failures. His integrity started to become present and appreciated by his superiors.

That’s a level of humility many of us never learn over the course of our lives, and George Washington was learning it as a teenager and in his early twenties. Those themes of failure, misadventure, and this very flawed man dealing with the realities of life while continually rising above them—I think we can all learn something from that.

Blackaby: You’re dealing with real historical events, but you’re not making a documentary. You’re making a cinematic, entertaining movie. How did you decide what could be changed, or what was off-limits and needed to stay historically grounded?

Hoogstraten: When we first started talking about the project—before we had typed a letter—there was definitely a sense of intimidation. This is one of the great men in world history, not just American history. The intimidation went into the background, and it turned into more of a reverence for the man that we never wanted to lose.

I apologize if I call him “George” or “my guy.” I never want to be disrespectful to President Washington. It’s just that we spent so much time with this character— forging him, creating him, making him say certain things—that you start to feel like you know him. We were all extremely reverential.

The biographies—especially by Joseph Ellis and Ron Chernow—cover his younger years, but there are still only a limited number of facts about that period of his life. There’s a lot we simply don’t know. So we always wanted to be extremely respectful for what the historical record shows. It’s the backbone of the movie. But we also knew we had to fill in the blanks.

We wanted to do that with the greatest possible respect for what the era would have been like—how people talked, and dressed, and what they would have done or never would have done. Thankfully, Jon found terrific historians to advise on the film and steer us back in the right direction if we drifted too far. In general, we tried to stay as true as we could to the spirit of the time and of the person.

Blackaby: I think this film may defy people’s expectations. If you go intoit without knowing the production history, it’s difficult to put it in a political or religious box. How conscious were you about making this accessible to everyone rather than aiming at one specific demographic?

Hoogstraten: We all worked really hard from the very beginning to make a movie for everyone. As I often say, I’m a new American. I’m an immigrant who became a very proud American. I live in Texas now. My daughters wear cowboy boots to church. It doesn’t get much more American and Texan than that!

But I wasn’t born as an American, and I strongly feel that we can all get back to this idea of how great and how cool it is to be American. When you look at this early part of American history, what I hope is that people feel that on a deep level.

We really hope this movie is for everyone—that it unites people, not because we’re trying to preach being united, but because it’s a great story, and it’s all of our story. George Washington belongs to all of us. This story is all of our origin story.

So yes, we hope Democrats and Republicans, left and right, religious and non-religious audiences, regardless of your background, this can be a compelling, inspiring, and encouraging film.

Blackaby: The film releases to coincide with July 4th and the 250th anniversary of America. Even though the story takes place before the Revolutionary War—before America really exists yet—it still very much feels like a celebration of America. How did you approach capturing that American spirit, even in a period that predates the country as we know it?

Hoogstraten: Yes, absolutely. There’s this sense of can-do adventurism in the film that we might not always associate with colonial Virginia, partly because we haven’t seen enough of that era brought to life in film and television. That’s why we have film, to see and feel and hear what it was like.

We try to portray George as a frontier man. He was a bit of a wild man. He loved riding horses fast. He wanted to be out there. He loved to camp. He went into the western frontier—which at that time was Ohio, not the Rocky Mountains—but still dangerous territory.

There’s a moment when someone says to him, “Are you sure you want to go there? Most men we send never return.” And George says, “Yeah. I want to go. Maybe that’s why I want to go.”

There’s that sense of courage, exploration, and finding freedom there. Those early American themes still exist today. We tried to show that in the people, in the land, and specifically in George Washington himself.

Blackaby: What do you hope audiences take away from this film? What would make this film a success in your eyes?

Hoogstraten: I love the way you frame that. It’s not just the box office receipts. At Wonder Project and Angel Studios, we try to make films that mean more. We often describe them as values-based rather than strictly faith-based. We want values we cherish to be present in these films; in this case, seeing the incredible value of serving.

George learns what it means to serve. And if that spirit existed in young George Washington long before he could ever imagine becoming president of a country that didn’t yet exist, then maybe all of us can take some inspiration from that.

We’re all flawed, challenged, and struggling, and life can feel very rough—especially for an 18-year-old or 22-year-old. Watch this movie and see how someone you think you know deals with it. It’s not the easy way. It’s never the easy way. But it does mean seeing and accepting something greater than yourself. If people can take away even a little of that message, I’ll be grateful.

Young Washington releases in theatres on July 3, 2026.