{"id":382740,"date":"2026-07-22T18:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/382740\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T18:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:52:09","slug":"ut-austin-graduate-helps-bring-george-washingtons-early-years-to-the-big-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/382740\/","title":{"rendered":"UT Austin graduate helps bring George Washington’s early years to the big screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 From the University of Texas at Austin to the national spotlight, Tom Provost helped bring the story of one of America’s most recognizable historical figures to life as the nation celebrated its 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

Tom Provost, a UT Austin graduate, is a screenwriter for the new film, “Young Washington”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“George Washington is this statue, this figurehead, the father of our country,” Provost said. “The more you learn about his life, particularly when he’s young., you find that he’s just a guy who has dreams just like the rest of us.”<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

From the University of Texas at Austin to the national spotlight, Tom Provost helped bring the story of one of America’s most recognizable historical figures to life as the nation celebrated its 250th birthday. (Photo: Young Washington)<\/p>\n

Provost said the film follows George Washington in his early 20s, exploring the failures, struggles and life experiences that shaped him into the nation’s first president. Provost said his mother, a professor of the American Revolution, first introduced him to American history, while growing up in Texas helped deepen his appreciation for the country’s founding.<\/p>\n

“You’re born in Texas, you’re so proud of it. And even though I live in California, I still just love Texas. And I think that innate love that you get as a Texan for Texas also, it goes over into the country as well,” he said. <\/p>\n

Provost was born in Port Arthur near Galveston, TX, but he said his roots have always run burnt orange. <\/p>\n

“My carpet in my room in junior high and high school was burnt orange,” he said. “Hook ’em Horns!”<\/p>\n

That led to four years at UT Austin, graduating from UT Austin’s prestigious Plan II Honors program. <\/p>\n

“UT gave me a lot of confidence in myself and enabled me to, without ever having been in LA, jump in the car and drive there the day after graduation,” he said. “UT really, I would say, embellished and grew my love for stories.”<\/p>\n

After helping write a number of films, including “Under Suspicion” and “The Presence”, Provost’s latest feature, “Young Washington”, landed in theaters on July 3, the day before America’s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

From the University of Texas at Austin to the national spotlight, Tom Provost helped bring the story of one of America’s most recognizable historical figures to life as the nation celebrated its 250th birthday. (Photo: Young Washington)<\/p>\n

“I think what’s special about it is getting to know the father of our country as a human being and as someone who has the same struggles that we have,” he said.<\/p>\n

Provost said he hopes audiences leave the theater inspired to learn more about Washington and American history.<\/p>\n

“John Irwin, our director, just hopes that the movie drives people to the history books, to read more and delve in more to the story of our country and our forefathers, the great men and women who created in essence, the United States of America,” Provost said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 From the University of Texas at Austin to the national spotlight, Tom Provost helped bring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-382740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}