Lincoln brings together director Steven Spielberg, Oscar-winning method actor Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright/screenwriter Tony Kushner (Munich), and a cast overflowing with celebrated thespians, in order to properly realize Abraham Lincoln’s experiences while serving as the Commander-in-chief during the American Civil War.
Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic is one of Screen Rant’s most anticipated films of the year (not to mention, movie geeks in general). The pedigree of the cast, crew, and subject matter alone assures this will be a serious contender during the upcoming awards season.
DreamWorks Pictures has selected November 9th to begin Lincoln‘s theatrical run, mere days after the U.S. Election Day 2012 (that’s in accordance with Spielberg’s expressed desire for the film to not serve as political fodder). Lincoln will start off in limited release, opening against the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall, and Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina (a fellow awards-hopeful flick). It will expand wider just a week later, when The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 begins its run at the box office.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Doris Kearns Goodwin’s acclaimed non-fiction book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” is the basis for Spielberg’s film. Kuchner’s script, however, reportedly foregoes an all-encompassing examination of Lincoln’s life, and instead “will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War” during the last four months of his time in office (and, of course, his life). Spielberg has said:
“…I was interested in how [Lincoln] ended the [American Civil War] through all the efforts of his generals…but more importantly how he passed the 13th Amendment into constitutional law. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war powers act and could have been struck down by any court after the war ended…But what permanently ended slavery was the very close vote in the House of Representatives over the 13th Amendment – that story I’m excited to tell.”
The director has also made it known that his historical drama will not recreate Lincoln’s most iconic moments (such as his delivery of the Gettysburg Address), and instead focuses on the shrewd political maneuvering that took place behind closed doors, culminating in the constitutional abolishment of slavery in the U.S. Spielberg has described Lincoln as even less “visual” than his historical courtroom drama Amistad, for that reason.
Rest assured, though, Lincoln will also feature brief, but intense depictions of Civil War battles, as filmed on location in historical battlefields scattered around Virginia. Moreover, Spielberg will undoubtedly deliver a handsome final product that boasts period-accurate production design – and could ultimately suffice as a more entertaining history lesson than this summer’s superhero fantasy treatment of the President’s story, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
To reiterate: Lincoln begins a limited U.S. theatrical release on November 9th, 2012, and will expand wider in the weeks thereafter.
