Mike Makowsky, creator of the award-winning series, was not searching for his next television series when he entered the Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove in Los Angeles — he simply wanted to buy some books at reasonable prices. Browsing the discount section, the Emmy-nominated Makowsky found two books that caught his interest. But since he was in the discount section, the promotion was buy two and get one free. Makowsky considers himself an aficionado of historical narrative, so he added to his basket "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President" by Candice Millard. And why not? If he didn't like it, it was the free book anyway.
Instead, Makowsky read Millard's weighty book about the assassination of President James A. Garfield in one sitting. "It left me speechless, and I laughed a lot, even though the book is not written with lightness or explicit mockery," Makowsky told The Hollywood Reporter. He explained that what Millard did very well was find a parallel structure between the president and the assassin, constantly weighing both men in contrast with one another. "I felt that that journey of seeing these two sides of the American experiment and the ways in which they contradict but also complement each other in an unsettling way, was what captivated me," he added.
That character is Charles Guiteau, played in "Assassination of the President" by Matthew Macfadyen of "Succession". Michael Shannon embodies Garfield, whilst Nick Offerman plays Vice President Chester A. Arthur, who received the series' sole acting Emmy nomination. "It felt Shakespearean," said Makowsky about the story. "I couldn't believe this story hadn't already been adapted".
Makowsky was an unlikely choice — his career plans never included adapting a story like this. After reading Makowsky's pilot script, the creators of "Game of Thrones" David Benioff and D.B. Weiss came on board as executive producers. Then joining the cast were Michael Shannon, Macfadyen, Offerman, Betty Gilpin from "GLOW", Shea Whigham and Bradley Whitford from "The West Wing". Suddenly, "Assassination of the President" was a highly coveted project, even though no one understood what the title meant.
Garfield was not murdered by lightning — he was shot in the back by an unbalanced admirer. The title of the series is taken from a quote by Garfield, written in a letter to a supporter shortly before the assassination: "Murder cannot be averted any more than death by lightning, and it is no better to worry about either". Makowsky said he "begged" Millard, a former National Geographic editor and writer, for the rights to adapt her second book. Makowsky added the irreverent and odd tone of "Assassination of the President" with "the other 99 per cent of people who are quite sure they don't care about James Garfield himself" in mind. The creator indicated that he took certain liberties in adapting the historical material, mainly in tone, but attempted to retain the spirit of the actual facts. "I think our accuracy is quite high," Makowsky concluded.
