Daniel Day-Lewis Will Play Lincoln In Spielberg Film

After Liam Neeson dropped out from of Steven Spielberg’s biopic on our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, it looked like the project would be forever in limbo. Add to the fact that Spielberg signed on to ROBOPOCALYPSE (principal photography begins in January 2012-Disney’s Touchstone will distribute the film in 2013) and is releasing both TIN TIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN and WAR HORSE in December 2011. Earlier today DreamWorks Studios announced that it signed on two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis to play President Lincoln.

Here’s the press release from Dream Works:

Los Angeles, CA (November 19, 2010) Two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis will star as the 16th President of the United States in DreamWorks Studios’ Lincoln to be directed by Steven Spielberg. The announcement was made today by Spielberg and Stacey Snider, Co-Chairman and CEO of DreamWorks Studios.

“Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest of actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema’s distant future. I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln,” said Steven Spielberg. “Throughout his career, he has been exceptionally selective in his choice of material,” added Stacey Snider, “which makes us feel even more fortunate that he has chosen to join with us for Lincoln.”

Based on the best-selling book, Team of Rivals, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the screenplay has been written by the Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner, and Academy Award nominated writer Tony Kushner. It will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg.

It is anticipated 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.

Doris Kearns Goodwin won her Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time, the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the home front in World War II. Kushner’s prize was for his play Angels in America, which later became an Emmy Award-winning television special. He had previously worked with Spielberg on Munich for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Filming is expected to begin in the fall of 2011 for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 through Disney’s Touchstone distribution label.

Source: Dream Works Studios