Today it was announced that Steven Spielberg would be filming his next project, Lincoln, in Virginia this fall. It is based upon the best-selling book, Team of Rivals by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin with a script penned by Tony Kushner and focuses 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.”
Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field were recently announced as part of the film’s cast and today THR reports that a long list of some of the most top-notch actors around are in negotiations for the upcoming film. The names that we have are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill and Joseph Cross.
Only two of the roles have been revealed, but those two will have Jones playing Republican Thaddeus Stevens who not only supported the abolishment of slavery but also wrote legislation that helped fund the Civil War and Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd, who was the only one to survive past his teenage years.
Needless to say that with Spielberg at the helm of such a big project with this incredible cast, only good things can come of it. A 2012 Oscar-season release is currently in the works for the film and you can be sure to see this one taking home some major awards.