While this won’t be the first look at Abraham Lincoln this year – that honor goes to the guilty pleasure “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” – this will no doubt be the one guaranteed Oscar-bait version starring America’s 16th president, especially once you consider its “Made for Academy Award” pedigree.
I don’t typically get that excited about these types of films largely because they’re such safe bets for Oscar voters, who prefer to stick with more historical pieces than rewarding filmmakers that skip past the safe zone and try something new, but with Steven Spielberg directing and Daniel Day Lewis starring, I’m actually pretty interested in this one.
Courtesy DreamWorks Studios
Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln.
Here’s the official write-up from DreamWorks:
Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln” is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, based in part on the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox film, in association with Participant Media, releases in U.S. theaters exclusive on November 9, 2012, with expansion on November 16, 2012.
