Friday, November 19, 2010 at 2:01PM Daniel Day-Lewis to Star in Spielberg's 'Lincoln'
Two Academy award winners look to join forces to make a film about the 16th President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln. According to variety.com, director Steven Spielberg has selected Daniel Day-Lewis to play Lincoln in the new Dreamworks production 'Lincoln'.
This will mark the first time the two have worked together, and Spielberg had nothing but high praise and gratitude to say about Day-Lewis in a recent interview.
"Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema's distant future," Spielberg said. "I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln."
The project is based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin novel "Team of Rivals" with an adaptation by Tony Kushner, who previously worked with Spielberg on the movie 'Munich'. The story will focus on the political conflict between President Lincoln and the powerful men in his cabinet on the path to abolition and the ending of the Civil War.
Filming is expected to begin next Fall, and I for one think this will be a great movie. Day-Lewis is the ideal choice to play Lincoln and is easily one of the best actors of his generation. I loved his performances in two of my favorites, 'In the Name of the Father' and 'Gangs of New York' .
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait an entire year before we can catch a glimpse of Day-Lewis as 'Lincoln', but all good things are usually worth waiting for.
Reader Comments (2)
Well, I still feel sorry for Liam Neeson who supposedly researched the role for about five years or so, but, WOW! They really hit it out of the park with this. He COULD finally take away the collective cinematic impression we have of Lincoln left by Gregory Peck. Like Peck, Lewis has the hieght, I'm wondering what he'll do with the voice, which some say was -unique, even irritating by some accounts. At any rate, just as Neeson really absorbed himself in the portrayal I'm sure Lewis will put a great deal of his effort into it as well and it should be a unique performance as are his past efforts.
Agreed. If Liam Neeson was to be replaced by anyone, it would be Daniel Day-Lewis. I definitely wouldn't be as thrilled about this movie if it was anyone other than those two.