Spielberg Parks His Lincoln?
Honest Abe biopic on hold.
According to Hollywood Elsewhere columnist Jeffrey Wells, Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's long-planned biopic of the 16th President of the United States, is on hold.
"I spoke to Liam Neeson twice last summer at a couple of post-movie-premiere parties, and he said that the plan was for Steven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln movie, in which he'll play the title role, to start shooting sometime around March '06," Wells reports.
"Forget it -- Spielberg's spokesperson Marvin Levy told me yesterday the Lincoln project (which will be based in part upon Doris Kearns Goodwin's recently published book about Lincoln) won't roll anytime soon and is basically up in the air."
Does this mean Spielberg is not interested in doing another political movie so soon after Munich? And will Indiana Jones IV be his top priority now? Time will tell.
This is just one of the seven projects Spielberg will be attached to and drop out of between now and the time his next movie comes out. Let history be our guide.
Sarah Vowell and Conan O'Brien should direct this.
hope he doesn't skimp on the lincoln squirrel subplot.
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or this
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Liam Neeson Talks Lincoln
ComingSoon.net sat down in New York on Tuesday with Liam Neeson to talk about his role in the new western Seraphim Falls. During the discussion he let spill some details of his preparation for Steven Spielberg's planned biopic Lincoln, in which Neeson will play the famously tall and doomed 16th President.
ComingSoon.net: Did what you learned about the Civil War era for "Seraphim Falls" inform your preparation for "Lincoln"?
Neeson: Oh absolutely, yeah because when they asked me to do "Seraphim Falls" I was already a year into research for "Lincoln." Very very heavily into the Civil War and that whole period. That's still an ongoing process.
CS: What sort of things are you doing to portray this person who was certainly never captured on film and whose physical mannerisms and voice are basically hearsay?
Neeson: We know a lot about him, it's not hearsay. There's over two-thousand books written on this man. Two-thousand. Some of them are great books, I've read about twenty-two maybe.
CS: Have you visited his home?
Neeson: I've been there. I've been to Washington, I've held his wallet, I've said a prayer on the Bible he was inaugurated on. Still ongoing... there's an extraordinary Lincoln bicentennial committee, a place I go to in Washington. I got to know this guy Michael Bishop who's the co-chair. He gave me access to all this Lincoln stuff. I read his personal letters and stood on the stage at Ford's Theater.
CS: Did they let you into the balcony?
Neeson: You can't go in there, no. It's sealed off. But I love the fact that he loved the theater. There's not too many presidents you see going to see plays every so often. Lincoln did, all the time! He supported live theater, which is terrific.
CS: He should have stayed away from "Our American Cousin."
Neeson: I know. (laughs)
Spielberg will first direct Indiana Jones 4 before turning his attention to this project.
Sally Field Joins Spielberg's Lincoln
Source: ComingSoon
Newsweek reports that Sally Field ("Brothers and Sisters") has joined the Steven Spielberg-directed Abraham Lincoln, starring Liam Neeson in the title role. Field will play Mary Todd, wife of the 16th U.S. president.
The DreamWorks movie will be based on a bio written by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin titled "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."
The 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth will happen in February, 2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20870247/site/newsweek/page/0/
I hope this doesn't get to be another Amistad. El Spielbergo is way to good to make another one like that...
Steven Spielberg: He wants to shoot 'Abraham Lincoln' in 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times
Steven Spielberg's long-rumored Abraham Lincoln biopic will be the director's next project after "Tintin," which is expected to go into production in September.
"I want to start 'Lincoln' in early 2009, because it's Lincoln's 200th anniversary," Spielberg reportedly told German magazine Focus while doing advance press for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
A request for confirmation from the studio was not immediately returned on Saturday afternoon.
It was expected that Spielberg's next project would be "Chicago Seven," about protesters at the historic 1968 Democratic National Convention, but the script was not ready and production had to be postponed, the director told Focus.
Three years ago Liam Neeson was reportedly in talks to play the 16th U.S. president based on an adaptation of "Team of Rivals: The Genius of Abraham Lincoln," a biography by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
While Spielberg's shingle DreamWorks is currently home to the "Lincoln" and "Tintin" projects, it remains to be seen whether the production company will retain its ties with distributor Paramount.
I don't know what it is about this project that feels as if it's going to be insanely boring. A two and a half hours blowjob to Lincoln and american ideals, with John Williams's unmemorable quiet music sweetening up everything and telling the audience when something meaningful is happening. The one thing about it that sounds awesome is Liam Neeson in the lead role. Hopefully he will not spend the entire movie pissed at his daddy or searching a father figure or being a bad father or something to do with those daddy issues that are Spielberg's obsessions.
Spielberg's Lincoln Troubles (http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/impressions/2009/02/17/spielbergs-lincoln-troubles)
Very interesting article on the studio money juggle of this film.
Set this shit in space.
Quote from: MacGuffin on May 11, 2008, 09:49:08 AM
Steven Spielberg: He wants to shoot 'Abraham Lincoln' in 2009
SPOILER!i've got bad news. i think someone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth) already beat him to it!
Haha, that joke was 9 months in the making, but so worth it.
Spielberg: Lincoln Lives
Director's rep denies biopic has been shelved.
The big screen Abraham Lincoln has not been assassinated by Paramount Pictures, according to the publicist for director Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg's flack Marvin Levy informed Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider blog, "Lincoln is alive and well and continues in active development. ... Everyone is proceeding with great enthusiasm. The script is still being revised by Tony Kushner and our plans are now to shoot the picture later this year."
EW claims a reliable source had informed them that Paramount shelved the $50 million biopic due to concerns over its cost. Other studios are also said to have passed on it for the same reason.
Liam Neeson remains attached to play the slain president.
Liam Neeson is a brilliant actor, but how on earth is he a good choice to play Lincoln? He's kind of a tubby dude with a very forceful physical presence and Lincoln was practically skeletal and lanky. A younger Leonard Nimoy might have been a good candidate. Maybe Daniel Day-Lewis??
DDL would be way better than Neeson.
DDL would be better than everyone but that is a given.
The Lincoln Derby
By: Peter Bart; Variety
Steven Spielberg has made it very clear – he's not giving up on Lincoln.
For several years, Spielberg has been trying to launch his major Lincoln opus, but his project was postponed recently by budget and location problems. Now, Robert Redford has moved into the picture, announcing his own Lincoln project, "The Conspirator," which will start shooting next month with independent financing and a cast headed by James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn.
Spielberg tells me, "We are very happy that Redford will be doing this Lincoln movie. It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible."
Spielberg is presently focusing on his "re-imagining" of "Harvey," with Robert Downey Jr. possibly playing the man who sees rabbits.
Meanwhile, Redford's film will mark his first directing gig since the disastrous "Lions for Lambs," which helped sink United Artists' comeback in 2007. The project will mark Redford's return to a political topic – this one's historical, to be sure.
Redford's movie, "The Conspirator," focuses on a young woman charged with conspiring to kill Lincoln. It's being funded by a company headed by Joe Ricketts, who professes to be a history buff.
Spielberg's Lincoln yarn reportedly was to focus on the President's anguish over the length and toll of the Civil War. His script is being revised by Tony Kushner.
While Spielberg's project will be a DreamWorks production, Redford, long a champion of indie filmmaking, seems bent on remaining outside the studio system. United Artists, which distributed his last film, has gone silent lately.
Liam Neeson Quits Spielberg's "Lincoln"
By Garth Franklin
Source: Dark Horizons
Friday July 30th 2010 11:31PM
Liam Neeson Quits Spielberg's "Lincoln"
Though he's been attached for many years, Liam Neeson has revealed to GMTV via Digital Spy that he's no longer involved in Steven Spielberg's long-gestating "Lincoln" biopic.
"I'm not actually playing Lincoln now. I was attached to it for a while, but it's now...I'm past my sell-by date" said Neeson during a talk show interview. The actor is probably referring to age - Neeson is 58 and Lincoln died at 56.
The film is also a long way off from production with Tony Kushner's script still undergoing revisions. Spielberg is committed to shooting "War Horse" next.
Quote from: Stefen on May 19, 2009, 10:16:48 PM
DDL would be way better than Neeson.
looks like your dream may come true...
Daniel Day-Lewis To Play Abraham Lincoln In Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln'
Will Hit Theaters Fall 2012The announcement is a massive surprise as earlier this summer Liam Neeson, long attached to the project, revealed that he was no longer involved leaving many to speculate the project was going to be Spielberg's "Napolean." However, things are now in motion with a planned 4th quarter release for the film in 2012.
"Lincoln" will be based on the best-selling book, "Team of Rivals," by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and featuring a script by Tony Kushner ("Angels In America") it's believed the plot 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."
Even more exciting is that this one is moving quickly with production set to begin in fall 2011 in anticipation of release one year later the fourth quarter of 2012. The project will keep Spielberg busy for the foreseeable future. He's currently working on the WWI drama "War Horse" which he will be prepping for a December 28, 2011 release. On top of that, he's also got "Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" opening five days before on December 23, 2011 (we're still in mild disbelief; and we figure one of those two films are going to move out of the way). And don't forget about "Monsterpocalypse," a project Spielberg signed on to last month. That is expected to go in front of cameras in January 2012 for a 2013 release.
This is easily the biggest news of the week hands down, and a tremendous exciting development. Daniel Day-Lewis standing in the shoes of Abraham Lincoln is something we can't wait to see, and seems to continue an ongoing run of roles for the actor where he plays old timey Americans (except for "Nine" but let's not talk about that film). We presume this means Lewis' intense preparation begins now so just remember to address him as Abraham next time you drop off some shoes for him to cobble
Link (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/daniel_day-lewis_to_play_abraham_lincoln_steven_spielbergs_long-gestating_b/)
Awesome news. Not only that DDL has been cast but also that movement on the film finally is attaching a release date.
That's so crazy. Poor Neeson. First his wife, then this!
Also: biopics are boring.
Yeah, this was headed to be the most boring movie ever but with DDL attached it will be the most exciting movie of all-time.
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He's really going to have to ugly up to play Lincoln.
^lol. I'm excited about there being an honest Abe walking this earth because you know DDL will be in character for a year or however long this takes to film.
I'm on board. there is no way this can be bad.
I'm calling Best Picture. Best Actor.
DDL is the preeminent facial hair actor of our times.
Sally Field Joins Steven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln Film
Source: Deadline
Two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field will star as Mary Todd Lincoln, wife to 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. Sally Field joins Daniel Day-Lewis, who has been cast to play Abraham Lincoln in the Spielberg film. "I'm excited to be working with Sally for the first time," said Steven Spielberg. "I've admired her films and she has always been my first choice to portray all the fragility and complexity that was Mary Todd Lincoln." "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 " said Sally Field.
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. Sally Field is a two-time Academy Award winner as Best Actress in a Leading Role for her roles in "Places in the Heart" and ""Norma Rae." Field won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special for her role in "Sybil." She won her second Emmy for her guest starring role on the long-running drama, "E.R." Her other film credits include "Steel Magnolias," "Mrs. Doubtfire," and "Forrest Gump." Field currently stars in the ABC series "Brothers & Sisters" for which she won an Emmy in 2007. 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.
So Sally Field is still acting. This is new information to me.
Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Join Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' (Exclusive)
Hal Holbrook, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill and Joseph Cross also are among those in negotiations to join the Abraham Lincoln biopic.
Source:THR
Steven Spielberg is rounding out the large cast of his Abraham Lincoln biopic, DreamWorks' Lincoln. Tommy Lee Jones and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, along with Hal Holbrook, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill and Joseph Cross are in negotiations to join the pic. David Costabile, Byron Jennings, Dakin Matthews, Boris McGiver, Gloria Reuben, Jeremy Strong and David Warshofsky are also in negotiations to board the movie. Lincoln, which sees Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president of the United States and Sally Field as his wife, Mary Todd, is based on Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and adapted by Tony Kushner. Jones will play Thaddeus Stevens, a Republican leader and congressman from Pennsylvania. Stevens was a staunch supporter of abolishing slavery and was critical to writing the legislation that funded the American Civil War. Gordon-Levitt will take on the role of Robert Todd Lincoln, eldest son of President Lincoln and the only one to live past his teenage years. The other actors will make up the supporting roles in this telling of Lincoln's journey to abolish slavery and end the Civil War. The project, which will shoot this fall in Virginia, is eyeing a late 2012 release via Disney's Touchstone label. Jones will be seen in July release Captain America: First Avenger, while Gordon-Levitt will shoot The Dark Knight Rises this summer. Both are repped by CAA.
This movie sounded boring as eff but with this cast it's really becoming awesome.
word.
although the sound of indy 4 sounded awesome too. (shia excluded).
speilberg's not completely done yet, he's got a couple left in him . This should be off the heezy fo' sho
Quote from: Reelist on May 07, 2011, 03:26:34 AM
speilberg's not completely done yet, he's got a couple left in him.
Does this mean he's having a threesome with Peter Jackson and George Lucas?
most likely, what else do you think dude does in his spare time?
Do they mash their beards together?
Nah, I heard that Chewbacca is starting to be bald so they are shaving their beards off.
anal sex. they all have gay anal sex with each other.... say Norm.
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First image of DDL as Lincoln!
It's probably Vincent Froio.
Sources? My pants need sources in order to cream themselves.
Edit: I did some looking around and it seems legit, unless proven otherwise.
Also, he apparently hasn't broken character since March. "Word around town is that DANIEL DAY-LEWIS hasn't broken his Lincoln accent since March. His real name doesn't even appear on the call sheet." @TheInSneider (https://twitter.com/#!/TheInSneider/status/141300470718279681)
psh. sneakers, argyles, turtle neck ... go full method or go home!
Quote from: Just Withnail on November 30, 2011, 05:28:36 PM
It's probably Vincent Froio.
As obligatory as this joke has become, it will never, ever get old to me. Ditto any references to "scoreless".
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FIRST LOOK: Daniel Day-Lewis embodies 'Lincoln' in Steven Spielberg's historical drama
Source: EW
Penny for your thoughts?
Long-range paparazzi (and the occasional sneaky fellow diner) grabbed snapshots of Daniel Day-Lewis as he was shooting Steven Spielberg's Lincoln last fall.
But in this exclusive new image from the upcoming historical drama (out Nov. 9), we finally see the My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood Oscar-winner in full character, and the result is even more uncanny than originally expected.
Spielberg tells EW that Day-Lewis captures not just the likeness of the 16th U.S. president in the below image, but also the intangible, pensive quality that made him a great leader. "Lincoln had a very, very complicated – and at the same time, extremely clear — inner life," the director says. "He thought things out. He talked things out. He argued both sides of every issue. And he was very careful in making any decision. As a matter of fact, his opponents and his enemies criticized him often for being impossibly slow to a decision."
The movie has also taken a long time to get to the screen, although Spielberg made a relatively fast decision roughly a decade ago when he optioned the rights to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, about Lincoln and his combative cabinet, when she was still just researching it. The screenplay, adapted by Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner (husband of EW columnist Mark Harris), excerpts just a portion of that 2005 best-seller.
Lincoln focuses on the last four months of the president's 's life and the political strategizing he undertook at the close of the Civil War to ensure that slavery would be forever outlawed. "Our movie is really about a working leader who must make tough decisions and get things done in the face of overwhelming opposition," Spielberg says.
He said the film begins with "Lincoln's realization that the Emancipation Proclamation, the thing he is most known for, was simply a war powers act that would easily be struck down by any number of lawyers after the cessation of hostilities after the Civil War," Spielberg says. "He needed to abolish slavery by constitutional measure — and that's where we start."
Among the other central characters are David Strathairn, as Lincoln's loyal Secretary of State, William Seward; Lincoln's sons, Tad (Dark Shadows' Gulliver McGrath) and Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt); his wife Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field); and "one of his most engaging and challenging adversaries, Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), a radical member of Lincoln's own party," Spielberg says.
'Establish a little authenticity'
There are numerous reports about Day-Lewis attempting to fully immerse himself in the mindset of someone who lived during the mid-1860s by avoiding the trappings of 21st — not to mention 20th — century life during the shoot, but Spielberg says his star never delved so deeply into character that he refused to acknowledge the modern world. "Daniel was always conscious of his contemporary surroundings," Spielberg says. "Daniel never went into a fugue state. He did not channel Lincoln. All that stuff is just more about gossip than it is about technique."
People on set did refer to the actor as "Mr. President," including Spielberg, but the director says that was just part of the effort to maintain atmosphere. "I was calling [all] the actors by their character names," he says. "That was something I felt was important to establish a little authenticity, maybe even more for me than for them."
Spielberg had his own transcendent Lincoln moment years ago, when he toured an archive of the president's possessions in Springfield, Ill. "I put on white surgical gloves and was given the chance to actually touch the dress that Mary was wearing when Lincoln was assassinated. And I had the chance to also pick up — and hold in my hand — his hat."
What went through his own mind in that thoughtful moment?
Spielberg pauses, then says with a laugh: "That I would never be as tall as him."
Boring. I scooped this two years ago.
Quote from: polkablues on November 19, 2010, 02:17:16 PM
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Quote from: polkablues on August 07, 2012, 11:10:11 AM
Boring. I scooped this two years ago.
Quote from: polkablues on November 19, 2010, 02:17:16 PM
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Gross...
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He looks more like Lincoln than Lincoln.
I can't wait to hear what voice he uses for this.
Interesting choice to shoot the whole film in profile.
The whole film is tinted sepia, so it looks like a penny.
Will he hunt vampires in this one?... Or is Spielberg going for the boring "historically correct" version?
Come on, If your penis doesn't wiggle at the idea of Daniel Day Lewis dressed as Lincoln hunting vampires down with a wooden shotgun... Then you are just NOT human.
Drunk Post OVER.
A trailer for a trailer... I think we can blame Prometheus for this recent trend.
So huh...... Will we ever get to see his actual face during the movie?
Is Spielberg trying to go Godard on us or something? What's with all the mystery? We know what he looks like, just give me a damn Close Up already!....
Cinematography does look pretty good though.
The fucking teal blue strikes again.
*** Spoiler Alert *** :
Lincoln dies.
It looks like War Horse except with Abraham Lincoln instead of a horse with moxie.
So, that's the voice? Oh my God. I was expecting Daniel Plainview's Grandpa for sure, but what more can you expect from the chameleon DDL.
Quote from: Reelist on September 10, 2012, 10:28:31 PM
So, that's the voice? Oh my God. I was expecting Daniel Plainview's Grandpa for sure, but what more can you expect from the chameleon DDL.
The voice in the trailer is
NOT Daniel-Day Lewis.....
It's the voice of the black soldier. He is quoting the address in the shot where he is turning from Lincoln.
Quote from: HeywoodRFloyd on September 10, 2012, 03:58:01 PM
A trailer for a trailer... I think we can blame Prometheus for this recent trend.
"hangout"?
hahaha..
and since this proto-trailer gives no clue as to what Joseph Gordon-Levitt has to do with the movie, the offer of chatting with him at this "hangout" (hahaha) is just baffling. it's like "hey kids come talk to your hero Steven Spielberg and world renown Lincoln historian JGL."
this had to be DDL's response to Spielberg when he hit him up to be a part of it ...
Quote from: Pubrick on September 11, 2012, 07:54:43 PM
"hangout"?
Quote from: Pubrick on September 08, 2012, 03:15:21 AM
fuck outta here with that, Steve.
my one complaint: not enough fading to black.
I can see why the promotional strategy up to this point revolved around hiding his face. That makeup job is more distracting than JGL's Bruce Willis face in Looper. Dig the voice, though.
I hope the trailer music is not indicative of the movie's actual score.
And am I right to observe that he has an H.W.?
Eek so much schmaltz. I hope this has some bite to it. Looks beautiful for sure.
Quote from: picolas on September 13, 2012, 06:40:25 PM
my one complaint: not enough fading to black.
Seriously!
But what end-of-year trailer for a Spielberg movie has not been exactly like this? It's not exactly indicative of what the actual movie will be like... other than it will be Spielberg.
I'm pretty sure Day-Lewis can do this role justice. Spielberg is always worrisome when he tackles these subjects because his worst tendencies usually take the spotlight, as this trailer suggests. No one seems to be talking like a normal human being in all of it. Everyone is making statements. I have more hope invested in the fact that Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay. Yes, characters in Angels In America also talk as if they're making speeches all the time, but the piece finds it's own flavor and when you see it complete, it's not bothersome at all.
Spielberg's best films (or if you may, the interesting ones) have always been those where he is working in unique universes/genre mashups.
From the first half of his career there's all the classics: the suburban existence permeated by fantastic elements of horror or wonder he used in Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T. and all those other films he did not direct which were nevertheless emblematic of his sensibility: Poltergeist, The Goonies, Gremlins. Ditto the update to serials into the action genre with the Indy films.
From his "mature" phase: The faux documentary/pollack school/character study of Schindler's List; the hyperrealism of war/postcard americana homage to WW2 veterans of SPR; the science fiction/fairy tale (and Kubrick sensibility) of A.I.; the caper/comedy/drama of Catch me if you Can; the sf futuristic neo-noir of Minority Report; and the use of the international spy thriller aesthetic in an indictment of fundamentalist reactions to terrorism of Munich. Even War of the Worlds, with it's use of 9/11 imagery in the midst of an alien invasion adventure. These twisting of conventions have freed him to do some strange things, explore his dark side, and ultimately be a more effective craftsman and storyteller. The exception would be War Horse. Every single time he plunges into something "serious" in a straight manner (Amistad, Color Purple, Empire of the Sun) he falls short.
This seems to be one of those.
I'm honestly not sure I buy the DDL Lincoln voice yet. I can already hear a lot of his native accent creeping in. I suppose you'd get used to it in the full movie.
new trailer
the first 45 seconds are unconscionable. whoever's behind putting these together should be castrated. two of the worst trailers i've seen in some time. this one makes ddl's performance more a selling point and makes it look like
gladiator the way the last trailer made it look like
forrest gump. some new footage though and that's all i'm really interested in. i've been fairly obsessed with this movie and can't wait to see it.
I didn't think it was that bad. Gave me goosebumps at the end there. I'm a little worried about this article I stumbled upon last week on NYMAG though. I can't find it now but they mentioned a bad screening of the film in Jersey of all places. The only quote I remember was people thinking it was really boring.
Quote from: ©brad on October 04, 2012, 10:00:49 AM
I'm a little worried about this article I stumbled upon last week on NYMAG though. I can't find it now but they mentioned a bad screening of the film in Jersey of all places. The only quote I remember was people thinking it was really boring.
Oscar Watch: Spielberg's 'Lincoln' test screens in New JerseyLou Lumenick; NY Post
I'm told that Steven Spielberg's much-anticipated "Lincoln" -- which, sight unseen, is the front-runner in Oscar's Best Picture race with 11-2 odds at Gold Derby -- had a test screening Tuesday night at the AMC Garden State Plaza 16 in Paramus, N.J.
Which surprises me quite a bit, since Steven Spielberg is on the record as being vehemently opposed to test screenings, going all the way back to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind,'' which received a premature pan in a national publication of a far-from-final version out of a Texas test screening 35 years ago. And he's long had the clout not to do them.
"The movies I personally direct I don't test,'' Spielberg once told an interviewer "I haven't tested a movie since 'Hook' in 1991. I think tests are deceiving. Even though the critical community vilified me and trounced that film, the test scores were some of the highest that had ever been gotten by a movie...If I've earned anything [as a filmmaker] it's the right to say to studios, 'Please don't even ask' [for test screenings]."
So what did the person who altered me to the existence of this screening -- after they saw it -- think of this work in progress? Please keep in mind that changes -- possibly substantial ones -- can be made right up until its world premiere at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Nov. 8, the day before "Lincoln'' opens wide in theaters. So take this with at least a grain of salt.
"The performances of Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Hal Holbrook were great,'' wrote this person, a passionate moviegoer who is not connected with the film industry, who flatly predicts that Day-Lewis will get a Best Picture nomination in the title role. "Sally Field was miscast as Mrs. Lincoln, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Lincoln's eldest son was OK but he really didn't add anything to the story.
"My biggest issue with the film as a whole was, it was boring,'' this civilian viewer wrote. "With the film centering on the vote for the 13th amendment, ending slavery and the Civil War, you'd think Spielberg would have made a more exciting, riveting film. So much of the story takes place in small, smoky dark rooms with Lincoln talking to one or two people, that my mind began to wander. It felt claustrophobic.
If he had shown the horrors of slavery and the Civil War, it might have evened out the story. They pretty much kept the film centered around the politicians.''
I'm a big Spielberg fan, and I hope "Lincoln'' works. If there are indeed problems with "Lincoln'' -- and, keep in mind, this is one nonprofessional's opinion -- Spielberg has seven weeks to try and fix things like, say, the pacing. And as Spielberg notes, test screenings can be deceiving. "Close Encounters'' certainly worked out OK.
That's it. And nevermind, that person sounds like an idiot.
Quote from: MacGuffin on October 04, 2012, 11:33:48 AM
"The performances of Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Hal Holbrook were great,'' wrote this person, a passionate moviegoer who is not connected with the film industry, who flatly predicts that Day-Lewis will get a Best Picture nomination in the title role.
He's just that good.
This is screening (apparently) as a surprise at the NYFF on Monday. I have a ticket but I also have a ticket to a comedy show in BK which will prob conflict (if this is 2.5 hours long). So I may skip it or ditch out early.
I saw it. It's fine (http://modage.tumblr.com/post/33240417777/nyff-12-lincoln-review).
Last year, the New York Film Festival made waves with a surprise screening of Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," which was presented as a "work-in-progress" with several fx sequences yet to be completed and green screens still visible. This year they've attempted to top themselves by presenting the world premiere of Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated "Lincoln." Like last year's surprise selection, the film was presented as a work-in-progress and introduced by Spielberg himself who looked like he was nervous to present his film in its still unfinished state. There may be some small tweaks made between now and its planned Thanksgiving release, but judging from what we were shown, "Lincoln" looked pretty complete. The film has been a passion project of Spielberg's for quite some time but I approached it somewhat cautiously.
After a creative renaissance in the early 00's making darker, riskier projects at an incredibly prolific pace ("A.I.," "Minority Report," "Catch Me If You Can," and "Munich" among them), the director has been a bit off his game (putting it kindly) these past few years. Since the debacle, "Indiana Jones & The Phantom Menace" in 2008, he's retreated back into his safe zone with the syrupy "War Horse" and hyperactive "The Adventures Of Tintin". And despite the casting of Daniel Day-Lewis, it was hard to muster too much enthusiasm for an Abraham Lincoln biopic which feels like the kind of straight-down-the-middle storytelling one would expect from the sentimentalist storyteller. The good news is that "Lincoln" is much, much better than the trailer suggests.
Absent is the overpowering John Williams score that nearly drowned "War Horse" — it's actually quite restrained here — and theatrics of DDL's speechifying — there are a few fiery moments, they're few and far between and totally fine in context of the film. And even better, the film isn't a biopic, rather it focuses in tightly on the few crucial months where Lincoln struggled and eventually succeeded in passing the 13th Amendment which freed slaves after the close of the Civil War. At times, Lincoln isn't even the center of the film whose focus remains on the passing of the bill, shifting between different characters among its large ensemble. Set 4 years into the Civil War just after Lincoln has been re-elected for a second term, Lincoln looks to pass the amendment but knows that it may be impossible once the war ends.
The film largely stays away from depicting the war itself (outside of a brutal opening sequence) and instead is set mainly in drawing rooms and courtrooms where old white men outwit and maneuver around each other politically and intellectually. The most fascinating aspect of the film is seeing a time when Republicans were the good guys (and Democrats were the close minded ones). Day-Lewis transforms himself into a convincing portrait of the President who carried the burden of racial inequality on his shoulders while still presenting the character as a father, a husband, a storyteller and above all a man (just like you). The film also features a hugely impressive ensemble though it feels a bit distracting when there are just so many damn recognizable faces in the small parts, you can't help but turn to the person sitting next to you and go "Look, it's that guy from (insert "Girls," "Boardwalk Empire," "Breaking Bad," "Justified," "Deadwood," etc. here)!"
Now, the bad news. Outside of being a lightly entertaining history lesson, it doesn't have much value cinematically. Yes, it's handsome looking and the performances are pretty good across the board (except Sally Field whose histrionics are not quite convincing) but it's also pretty bland. The problem with movies that are pre-ordained as Oscar contenders is that they divert a lot of attention away from more worthwhile films. The film is an "Oscar contender" because its supposed to be. Yawn. It wasn't a painful experience by any means but it's not a film I'd ever need to watch a second time either. It's the kind of movie they'll show in history classes but won't appear as much more than a footnote in the careers of Day-Lewis or Spielberg, two guys who are much too talented to be wasting their time on something like this.
who the fuck does michael stuhlbarg play in the movie?!
on the one hand i'm kind of thrilled this movie seems to be so focused and restrained. i read some piece compiling several twitter responses and the ones that call it boring or dull don't bother me too much. one that got me really intrigued called lincoln the best rossellini (history) film rossellini never made. there is, of course, the distinct possibility that this is going to be the kind of shit truffaut bemoaned about the bridge on the river kwai: "scenes set inside offices alternating with discussions between old fogies and some action scenes usually filmed by another crew. Rubbish , traps for fools, Oscar machines."
choosing to remain optimistic. some of those twitter blurbs recognize kushner as equal shareholder in authorship as spielberg which in my mind can't be remotely bad, and the performances sound like they're exactly where they need to be. we'll see.
the word "restrained" is the key for me. this now sounds as an unexpected turn for spielberg and that's kind of exciting.
Maybe it was supposed to be a Playlist review and he accidentally posted it on his Tumblr.
DDL/Spielberg Q&A
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/58994
fucking loved this movie. firmly number 2 on my list for the year, with a possible upgrade to 1.
plays like young mr lincoln by way of lawrence of arabia. spielberg is in top form, austere and passionate. that some are saying this film lacks his normal virtuoso is beyond me--it's simply manifested in a different and (for spielberg) new form. kushner's dialogue approaches shakespeare, and the actors rise to the occasion. as an ensemble i would say lincoln outdoes the master, and i'll take ddl as lincoln over both phoenix and hoffman in their respective roles. (if only they had switched...) tommy lee jones is his usual amazing, and the who's who of actors filling in the supporting/background roles i thought to be a virtue of the film, all of these established actors willing to do bit parts. i don't understand the complaints about sally field, whose performance is completely in keeping with the style of the film and the character as she's presented in the movie. she's heart-wrenching.
astonishing and sublime. loved every minute. planning to see it again this weekend for the pure pleasure of it. claims that this is boring/bland/cinematically lacking are completely unfounded. it has the immediate charm, grandeur, sentimentality, and sense of greatness of a true american classic.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/11/how-steven-spielberg-cinematographer-janusz-kaminski-got-these-shots.html
^^^ That is a really great article. Kaminski gives insight on how he got those beautiful shots. It has to do with Lincoln, so I figured I would post it here.
Loved this! A magnificent chamber drama. Vastly superior to the biopic I feared it would be. Illuminating and thrilling. One dumb scene. Ten minutes longer than it needed to be, but whatever.
Quote from: Ghostboy on November 17, 2012, 09:31:56 PM
Loved this! A magnificent chamber drama. Vastly superior to the biopic I feared it would be. Illuminating and thrilling. One dumb scene. Ten minutes longer than it needed to be, but whatever.
which scene are you talking about?
semiSPOILER
the unnecessary denouement has become/always been one of spielberg's more dubious hallmarks, and while i don't think those last ten minutes are integral to anything i kind of get the sense that, for him, it was unbearably sad to end the film simply on that devastating, elegiac shot of him walking down the hall on his way to ford's theatre (and that gorgeous last line: "now i must go, though i would rather stay.") and that a solution was to see the whole thing through to the end, and add the speech, recontextualizing it into a coda, both for the film and his life's work as president. i was pretty ambivalent about it on first viewing but more accepting of it during the second, a viewing that i found to be just as if not more pleasurable than the first. it's a lovely film.
Loved it too. Movie of the year. It's just people talking in rooms, it's great. There are moments in the innocuous piano score that tease you to think "oh christ here it comes, that swelling Speilliams score!" but it thankfully never gets too mawkish, save a few unfortunate moments at the end (this movie was in dire need of some Greenwood or Brion). Make no mistake this is Spielberg at his most restrained. There aren't even that many sweeping crane shots.
Quote from: samsong on November 18, 2012, 06:34:13 AM
Quote from: Ghostboy on November 17, 2012, 09:31:56 PM
Loved this! A magnificent chamber drama. Vastly superior to the biopic I feared it would be. Illuminating and thrilling. One dumb scene. Ten minutes longer than it needed to be, but whatever.
which scene are you talking about?
semiSPOILER
the unnecessary denouement has become/always been one of spielberg's more dubious hallmarks, and while i don't think those last ten minutes are integral to anything i kind of get the sense that, for him, it was unbearably sad to end the film simply on that devastating, elegiac shot of him walking down the hall on his way to ford's theatre (and that gorgeous last line: "now i must go, though i would rather stay.")
This to me is not really a fatal flaw but flaw nonetheless. It would have been sooooo much better to end on that remarkable hallway shot with that last line. In fact when I watch it again at home I'm stopping it right there.
The first and last scenes were definitely the worst. I think it was on Filmspotting where one of the hosts stated that they were afraid the first scene was how the whole movie was going to play out. It feels like what you might imagine a Spielberg movie about Lincoln would be like. Eye-rolling.
That said, I really liked the rest of the movie.
Quote from: ©brad on November 19, 2012, 08:43:29 PM
Loved it too. Movie of the year. It's just people talking in rooms, it's great. There are moments in the innocuous piano score that tease you to think "oh christ here it comes, that swelling Speilliams score!" but it thankfully never gets too mawkish, save a few unfortunate moments at the end (this movie was in dire need of some Greenwood or Brion). Make no mistake this is Spielberg at his most restrained. There aren't even that many sweeping crane shots.
Quote from: samsong on November 18, 2012, 06:34:13 AM
Quote from: Ghostboy on November 17, 2012, 09:31:56 PM
Loved this! A magnificent chamber drama. Vastly superior to the biopic I feared it would be. Illuminating and thrilling. One dumb scene. Ten minutes longer than it needed to be, but whatever.
which scene are you talking about?
semiSPOILER
the unnecessary denouement has become/always been one of spielberg's more dubious hallmarks, and while i don't think those last ten minutes are integral to anything i kind of get the sense that, for him, it was unbearably sad to end the film simply on that devastating, elegiac shot of him walking down the hall on his way to ford's theatre (and that gorgeous last line: "now i must go, though i would rather stay.")
This to me is not really a fatal flaw but flaw nonetheless. It would have been sooooo much better to end on that remarkable hallway shot with that last line. In fact when I watch it again at home I'm stopping it right there.
i'll gladly recognize it as a flaw, but it's also distinctly spielbergian in nature and i can't help but be endeared. it's like the rainbow at the end of E.T., or the need to show the family reuniting at the end of war of the world, or everything that happens after cruise gets put in jail in minority report. the guy just can't end his movies on a negative note. it isn't in his dna as a filmmaker, for better or usually worse. the closest thing that resembles an upsetting ending from him is munich, and given that that was kushner as well, i have to think that maybe the ending that exists in lincoln came at spielberg's behest. ending it with that shot of the hall seems more up kushner's alley. either way i'd still go so far as to call this movie a masterpiece. i think it's that great.
maybe it's because i read about it before seeing the movie but that early scene with the soliders wasn't as problematic for me as it is for everyone else. it's one of the few instances a black character is given an opportunity to have real presence and i kind of enjoyed the arbitrary, even facetious inclusion of the gettysburg address. it's on the nose as shit but it does set tone in terms of establishing lincoln's cadence and presence throughout the film, as well as the lightness (grace?) that pervades the entire film. and the battle scene that precedes it is pretty fucking brutal.
Quote from: samsong on November 18, 2012, 06:34:13 AM
which scene are you talking about?
The last scene with Tommy Lee Jones - the dolly into-a-two-shot reveal had a jokeiness to it that betrayed the sweetness of that moment.
lincoln on third viewing > the master on third viewing
NO.
It was boring as fuck.
I'm never giving Spielberg a chance again. He done went full on sentimental, even if it comes at the expense of having something, anything, happen in his movies.
Spoilers...
I waited 2 and a half hours to see something happen and then Lincoln finally gets to the theater and I'm like, right on, here we go! But instead of showing him getting merked by Booth, it just skips the money shot and cuts to Lincoln on his deathbed.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2Fd%2Fdb%2FSpielberg99.jpg%2F220px-Spielberg99.jpg&hash=e78c93c6d283bb299a7984ad0d95d09ea794282b)"Audiences don't want to see the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. They want to see people crying in slow-motion over the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Showing it is pointless and unnecessary."
Get lost, Spielberg. Asshole.
here we go...
waiting for p to see this and shit all over me.
I kind of want to shit on him for letting the cat outta the bag on how Spielberg handled the actual assassination. Come on man, a little warning please.
yeah, what the fuck?
I didn't consider it a spoiler, but I can see how others might. I'll edit it.
All in all, pretty great movie. Spielberg proves again that he's no longer capable of ending a movie at its natural ending, but he otherwise manages to restrain the lesser devils of his nature. And god, what a cast. The greatest collection of That Guy actors ever assembled.
I thought this was really good, but I liked it less than both War Horse and Tintin. It seems fucking insane that Spielberg made suspense out of the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment -- I was sitting there thinking both "this passed, duh, historical fact" and "WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN??" That seems amazing.
That shot of Lincoln giving his final speech in the middle of the candle flame was super cheesy. I thought Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones were good. Joseph Gordon Levitt seemed like an afterthought, The John Hawkes + friends sections seemed like comedic relief. I was really hoping that I would love this but it just wasn't the case.
SOME SPOILERS
I guess it was ok, but for a film with these ambitions, ok is not enough. Yes, it was restrained for Spielberg, but this made the few corny moments stand out even more than usual. John Williams and his damn solemn trumpet, the official music cue of american cinema for every single time a historic character says something important ruins every potentially emotional moment. As usual, the subplot involving Lincoln being a distant father to his older son seems crammed in. Can't Spielberg leave that shit out just once??? It was just distracting here. As a matter of fact if he was so intent on dealing with that subject again, Lincoln's monologue about his own father was sufficient and it made more sense in the context of the story being told.
The film has some very strong points and the cast is amazing and everyone is great in it, but it lacks a certain something, which I guess is a little bit of malice. Although it shows the way politicians were negotiating the future of slavery in a humorous way, a bit more of cynicism (i'm thinking those same scenes in the hands of someone like Scorsese) would have been welcomed.
I didn't mind the first scene that much but it certainly wasn't the best way to start the movie. 20 minutes in I was still waiting for the film to come alive, and after a while I just accepted that this was the way it was going to be. the last scene, however, is terrible. Not only in dramatic terms but aesthetically, it looks like shit. Lincoln seems weirdly small surrounded by giants. Very weird shot and poor judgement call, that reminded me of the digital morphing of Matt Damon to old man in Saving Private Ryan, probably the worst choice ever made by Spielberg in anything.
I just think the reverential tone that Spielberg feels he needs to have towards the subject matter gets in the way of making it a more dynamic experience.