Steven Spielberg’s, “Lincoln”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th President of the United States, was in office from March 4, 1861 -until his assassination on April 15, 1865. While in office he fought to pass the 13th Amendment which would abolish slavery. The Amendment was finally passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, towards the end the American Civil War (April 12, 1861- April 9, 1865), and stated that ”neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Q: Richard Pena: “How did you tackle ‘Lincoln’?”
A: Tony Kushner (Screenwriter): I only wanted to do part of the administration, and to focus on the White House. It would be impossible to do the whole thing. Even covering various parts of Lincoln’s life resulted in an endless supply of script pages. So I finally decided to narrow the focus to the last months of Lincoln’s life.”
Q: Richard Pena: “Was it difficult in recreating ‘The White House’?”
A: Steven Spielberg: “Rick Carter, the production designer, looked at black and white photos, was able to capture it all, and got everything down to the last detail. They were even able to get Lincoln’s actual pocket watch from a museum. The entire picture was shot in Richmond, VA, and was a very pleasant experience. I got to work in a medium which I haven’t been involved in since high school, and that is theater.”
Q: Richard Pena: “What was it like to work with Daniel Day Lewis?”
A: Steven Spielberg: “Daniel Day Lewis is a fantastic artist and gentleman, who really captured the humanity of Lincoln. We could have told the rivals story. You could see what an amazing counterpart that Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn) was to Lincoln, and how Lincoln did use opposition and contention and opposite opinion to almost mold and form his own opinion. It was this team of rivals that brought him to the nexus of his administration. Much of the backroom political maneuvering that went into abolishing slavery before ending the Civil War came from the research done by Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln. It informed the filmmakers on exactly how Lincoln’s strategy of surrounding himself with former adversaries made his administration so effective.”
Q: Richard Pena: “How did you determine the voice?”
A: Steven Spielberg: “The recent trailers of the film have brought comment on the high, reedy voice that Day-Lewis brings to his Lincoln character. Spielberg said there was abundant evidence that it was spot on. All the research and even Ralph Waldo Emerson talked about his high shrill voice. Everybody talked about the Lincoln-Douglas debate, where Douglas’s Basso profondo voice did not cut through Coopers Union as well as Lincoln’s higher tenor voice did. We would actually be criticized had we done Lincoln the way Disneyland does in Epcot Center, with that low voice. I have to give credit to Daniel. He researched that and came up with it himself. I had no input into that. Daniel completely found Lincoln, he found the voice and the center of that man, and the voice is just a small part of that.
I just said, please don’t release this until the election is over. I didn’t want it to be this political football going back and forth. Because it’s kind of confusing. The parties traded political places over the last 150 years. That in itself is a great story, how the Republican Party went from a progressive party in 1865, and how the Democrats were represented in the picture, to the way it’s just the opposite today. But that’s a whole other story.”
Q: Richard Pena: “Mary Todd Lincoln, is usually portrayed in a negative light. Talk about her.”
A: Tony Kushner: “It was a great political marriage. She knew the size of his genius. She knew who he was and participated fully in his political life. She turned the White House into a federal power. The fact that she went out of her mind after the assassination is unfair. It has been extraordinary to watch a great President in action (Obama), while working on a great President in action (Lincoln).”
Incredible sets, cinematography, makeup, and acting.
Out in theaters nationwide on November 16, 2012.
Article by Sharon Abella
