Lincoln

Lincoln is an upcoming 2012 biographical war drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. The film is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and covers the final four months of Lincoln's life. Filming began Monday, October 17, 2011 and ended on December 19, 2011. The film is scheduled for limited release on November 9, 2012 and wide release on November 16, 2012, by DreamWorks through Disney’s Touchstone distribution label in the U.S. and internationally by 20th Century Fox.

Plot Summary
DreamWorks has announced that the film "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." According to Spielberg, Doris Kearns Goodwin's entire book about Lincoln's presidency is "much too big" for a film, and said that the film will focus on the last few months of Lincoln's life, the ending of slavery and the Union victory in the Civil War. Spielberg said that "what permanently ended slavery was the very close vote in the House of Representatives over the Thirteenth Amendment – that story I'm excited to tell." Spielberg plans to show "Lincoln at work, not just Lincoln standing around posing for the history books...arguably the greatest working President in American history doing some of the greatest work for the world." Screenwriter Tony Kushner has said that he worked on the script for six years and that he was very interested in "the relationship of Lincoln to the abolitionist GOP" and that Lincoln's "incredible ability to finesse very, very treacherous political circumstances and continue to move the country forward, I mean, to lead the country forward in the midst of the most horrendously difficult period in its history, I think, is breathtaking and awe-inspiring."

Cast
Liam Neeson was originally cast as Lincoln in January 2005, having previously worked with Spielberg in Schindler's List. In preparation for the role, Neeson studied Lincoln extensively. However, in July 2010, Neeson left the project, saying that he had grown too old for the part. In November 2010, it was announced that Day-Lewis would replace Neeson in the role. Doris Kearns Goodwin described Lincoln in his final months as a leader with "the rare wisdom of a temperament that consistently displayed an uncommon magnanimity to those who opposed him".[15] Producer Kathleen Kennedy described Day-Lewis's performance as "remarkable" after 75% of the filming had been completed, and said, "Every day you get the chills thinking that Lincoln is sitting there right in front of you." Kennedy described Day-Lewis's method acting immersion into the role: "He is very much deeply invested and immersed throughout the day when he's in character, but he's very accessible at the end of the day, once he can step outside of it and not feel that – I mean, he's given huge scenes with massive amounts of dialogue and he needs to stay in character, it's a very, very performance-driven movie." Field was first announced to join the cast as early as September 2007, but officially joined the cast in April 2011. Field said, "To have the opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis and to play one of the most complicated and colorful women in American history is simply as good as it gets".[19] Spielberg said, "she has always been my first choice to portray all the fragility and complexity that was Mary Todd Lincoln". Robert Todd Lincoln had returned to the White House on April 14, 1865 to visit his family, and his father was assassinated that night. Gulliver McGrath as Tad Lincoln Tad was 12 years old, and toured Richmond, Virginia, with his father. A fervent abolitionist, Stevens feared that Lincoln would "turn his back on emancipation." Stevens "excoriated him on the floor of the House" for meeting with a Confederate peace delegation. According to John Hay, "The history of governments affords few instances of an official connection hallowed by a friendship so absolute and sincere as that which existed between these two magnanimous spirits", namely Seward and Lincoln. Seward had been seriously injured in a carriage accident nine days before Lincoln's assassination. He and his son Frederick W. Seward were attacked by Lewis Powell simultaneous with Lincoln's shooting, and were both severely injured but both survived. Wood became a Copperhead Democratic Congressman sympathetic to the Confederacy Stephens had served with Lincoln in Congress from 1847 to 1849. He met with Abraham Lincoln on the steamboat River Queen at the unsuccessful Hampton Roads Conference on February 3, 1865 Campbell was a former Supreme Court Justice who had resigned at the start of war and then served as Assistant Secretary of War in the Confederate government. He was also a member of the Confederate delegation that met with Lincoln at the Hampton Roads Conference Stanton took charge of the investigation of the assassination plot Hutchins broke with his party to cast a decisive vote in favor of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which abolished slavery Keckley was a former slave who was dressmaker and confidant to Mary Todd Lincoln Commanded the Union Army from March 1864 and directed the strategy that led to Union Victory. Bilboe had been imprisoned but was freed by Lincoln, and then lobbied for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Latham founded Lincoln College in 1865 Blair was an influential Republican politician who tried to arrange a peace agreement between the Union and the Confederacy Schell was politician who later represented New York in the United States House of Representatives. Hay was assistant and secretary to Abraham Lincoln David Warshofsky Nicolay was secretary to Abraham Lincoln Usher was the Secretary of the Interior in Lincoln's cabinet Blair was the son of Francis Preston Blair, was the former Postmaster-General and was a political opponent of the Radical Republicans Speed was United States Attorney General and brother of Joshua Speed, Lincoln's oldest personal friend Smith was Thaddeus Stevens's biracial housekeeper. Stevens was a bachelor and Smith lived with him for many years. Lee was the daughter of Francis Preston Blair, and wrote hundreds of letters documenting events during the Civil War
 * Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln
 * Sally Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt as their oldest son, recent Harvard graduate and new Union Army captain Robert Todd Lincoln
 * Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican Congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens
 * David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward
 * Lee Pace as former Mayor of New York City Fernando Wood
 * Jackie Earle Haley as Vice President of the Confederate States of America Alexander H. Stephens
 * Gregory Itzin as John Archibald Campbell
 * Bruce McGill as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
 * Walton Goggins as Democratic Congressman Wells A. Hutchins
 * Gloria Reuben as Elizabeth Keckley
 * Jared Harris as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant
 * Wayne Duvall as Radical Republican Senator Bluff Wade
 * David Oyelowo as Ira Clark
 * James Spader as Democratic Party operative William N. Bilboe
 * John Hawkes as Colonel Robert Latham
 * Hal Holbrook (who won an Emmy portraying Lincoln in a 1976 mini-series) as Francis Preston Blair
 * Tim Blake Nelson as Richard Schell
 * Joseph Cross as John Hay
 * David Costabile as James Ashley
 * Jeremy Strong as John George Nicolay
 * Dakin Matthews as John Palmer Usher
 * Boris McGiver
 * Byron Jennings as Montgomery Blair
 * Richard Topol as James Speed
 * S. Epatha Merkerson as Lydia Smith
 * Julie White as Elizabeth Blair Lee

Production
While consulting on a Steven Spielberg project in 1999, Goodwin told Spielberg she was planning to write Team of Rivals, and Spielberg immediately told her he wanted the film rights. DreamWorks finalized the deal in 2001, and by the end of the year, John Logan signed on to write the script. His draft focused on Lincoln's friendship with Frederick Douglass.[34] Playwright Paul Webb was hired to rewrite and filming was set to begin in January 2006, but Spielberg delayed it out of dissatisfaction with the script. Neeson said Webb's draft covered the entirety of Lincoln's term as President.

Tony Kushner replaced Webb. Kushner considered Lincoln "the greatest democratic leader in the world" and found the writing assignment daunting because "I have no idea [what made him great]; I don't understand what he did anymore than I understand how William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet or Mozart wrote Così fan tutte." He delivered his first draft late and felt the enormous amount written about Lincoln did not help either. Kushner said Lincoln's abolitionist ideals made him appealing to a Jewish writer, and although he felt Lincoln was Christian, he noted the president rarely quoted the New Testament and that his "thinking and his ethical deliberation seem very talmudic". He denied any interest in portraying Lincoln as homosexual – as had been speculated due to Kushner's sexuality – because "there's [not] enough evidence one way or the other to make a definitive statement about Lincoln's sexuality". By late 2008, Kushner joked he was on his "967,000th book about Abraham Lincoln". Kushner's initial 500-page draft focused on four months in the life of Lincoln, and by February 2009 he had rewritten it to focus on two months in Lincoln's life when he was preoccupied with adopting the Thirteenth amendment.

While promoting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May 2008, Spielberg announced his intention to start filming in early 2009, for release in November, ten months after the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. In January 2009, Taunton and Dighton, Massachusetts were being scouted as potential locations. Spielberg arranged a $50 million budget for the film, to please Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey, who had previously delayed the project over concerns it was too similar to Spielberg's commercially-unsuccessful Amistad (1997). Spielberg had wanted Touchstone Pictures–which agreed to distribute all his films from 2010–to distribute the film, but he was unable to afford paying off Paramount, which DreamWorks had developed the film with.

Filming took place in Petersburg, Virginia. According to location manager Colleen Gibbons, "one thing that attracted the filmmakers to the city was the 180-degree vista of historic structures" which is "very rare". Lincoln toured Petersburg on April 3, 1865, the day after it fell to the Union Army. Scenes have also been filmed at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, which served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln visited the building on April 4, 1865, after Richmond fell to the Union Army.

On September 4, 2012, DreamWorks and Google Play announced on the film's Facebook page that they would release the trailer for the film during a Google+ hangout with Steven Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt on September 13, 2012 at 7pm EDT/4pm PDT. Then, on September 10, 2012, a teaser for the trailer was released.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack to Lincoln as composed by John Williams is to be released on November 6, 2012.

1. "The People’s House"

2. "The Purpose of the Amendment"

3. "Getting Out the Vote"

4. "The American Process"

5. "The Blue and Grey"

6. "With Malice Toward None"

7. "Call to Muster and Battle Cry of Freedom"

8. "The Southern Delegation and the Dream"

9. "Father and Son"

10. "The Race to the House"

11. "Equality Under the Law"

12. "Freedom’s Call"

13. "Elegy"

14. "Remembering Willie"

15. "Appomattox, April 9, 1865"

16. "The Peterson House and Finale"

17. "With Malice Toward None (Piano Solo)"