Spielberg's Lincoln Movie May Shoot in Fall 2011

The long-gestating Steven Spielberg movie about Abraham Lincoln, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's acclaimed Team of Rivals, has lost one Lincoln (Liam Neeson) and hired another (Daniel Day-Lewis).

There are rumors that Spielberg plans to begin shooting in the fall of 2011. Toward this end, a production team including "the man who would be Lincoln" recently met with a representative of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency doing research. Evidently they toured Lincoln sites and viewed some Lincoln artifacts.

Neeson was reported to have done such research during his several years of association with the project, so development scouting does not mean that the film will definitely be shot. However, there are some indications that this effort may finally come to fruition. Spielberg's calendar is open for shooting this fall -- before beginning his anticipated sci-fi Robopocalypse in early 2012; Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter, has been publicly touting his screenplay in recent months; Day-Lewis is the sort of actor whose prestige projects are always taken seriously (this will only be his fifth film in the past decade). More important than all of these, though, is the slate of other Lincoln films in production, especially Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which means that several studios believe there is a market for Lincoln right now.

I hope the film will one day be shot, as a new Lincoln-related movie is long overdue. However, I am sad that Neeson withdrew from the project. Unlike others who believe the project has awards written all over it, I think that Neeson (even at age 59) would be a better fit for Lincoln than Day-Lewis. Some point to Day-Lewis' obvious -- even extraordinary -- talents, and his performance may be compelling, but after seeing Neeson in Kinsey, I became convinced that he could offer a definitive Lincoln.

National Park Service Celebrates 150 Years

The National Park Service has created a webpage honoring the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War. Evidently the current page is a rough place-holder that will soon be replaced by a more complete site with timelines and ways to plan a visit to one of the many Civil War battlefields and Civil War-related sites preserved by the Park Service.

Perhaps the most helpful piece will be a calendar of scheduled events throughout the park system and in conjunction with the various state commissions planning Civil War Sesquicentennial activities.

150th Anniversary of Lincoln's Election

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Presidential election of 1860, when a former one-term Congressman defeated three other candidates, each of whom had previously served in the US Senate, and one who was the current vice-president. Abraham Lincoln, a dark horse candidate who gained the nomination of the nascent Republican Party as much for who and what he was not as for who and what he was.

By election day, though, his election was almost a foregone conclusion. The Republican coalition was united around him, while the larger Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson had split geographically between Stephen Douglas and John Breckinridge. Of course, given Lincoln's recent experiences in attempting to gain election to the US Senate, he seemed reluctant to view his election as inevitable. Instead he patiently and deliberately worked behind the scenes to do all he could to achieve election. On election day, he was calm but refused to accept any congratulations until the returns proved his election.

The Gray Lady has two excellent web postings about the 1860 election, including a reprint of the 1932 reminiscences of a reporter who spent much of that election day with Lincoln, including the hours in the telegraph office where Lincoln waited for all of the election returns to be transmitted. They are an excellent account of that fateful day, which continued events in motion toward secession and civil war.

The first relates Lincoln's careful strategic silence during the election and the period leading up to his inauguration. The second records Lincoln's activities on November 6, 1860.

Lincoln on TV

This weekend, C-SPAN is featuring three Lincoln-related lectures as part of American History TV. The lectures will focus on the 1860 and 1864 elections. (Evidently the theme of the weekend is 'presidential elections.')

Two of the lectures are from previous Lincoln Forum events: one by David Long on the 1860 election and one by Joseph Glatthar on the 1864 election. There is also a lecture on Lincoln and Jefferson Davis by Bruce Chadwick, whose most recent book is on the 1860 election.

The lectures will run several times this weekend on C-SPAN 3.

Dueling Civil War Sesquicentennial Blogs Debut

Last week, The Washington Post and The New York Times rolled out blogs that will cover the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War over the next five years. (Coincidence, co-dependence, or healthy competition? Who can say?)

They take slightly different approaches. The Post has gathered a panel of 25 experts to answer questions about the war, the politics of the era, and the consequence. Among the experts are noted Lincoln authors such as Harold Holzer and recent Lincoln Prize-winner Craig Symonds. The first question, answered by six panelists, is "Would there have been a war if Lincoln hadn't won the 1860 election?" The answers (none of them particularly earth-shattering or provocative, sadly) are posted on the blog, entitled "A House Divided."

The Times is evidently planning to refight the war day-by-day by offering posts of events that occurred exactly 150 years before. Some of the posts will be written in a "You are there" style; others are reflections on the past events. The Times has called their blog "Disunion" -- well, actually, "DISUNION," but I'm unclear why they feel the need to shout.

Hopefully there will be some good material here in the coming years. At the very least, let's hope that there is sufficient interest to sustain the efforts.

Recent New Lincoln Book

On Sunday, The Washington Post published a review of the new book by James Swanson, Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse. In the review, John Waugh (author of several Lincoln and Civil War era books) attests that Swanson's book is 'riveting, absorbing, and meticulous.'

Given the popularity of Swanson's previous book, the bestselling Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, it is easy to understand the expectation for this latest book. The two books detail virtually the same period of time (April 1865). Perhaps the unexpected thing is the counterpoint Swanson is attempting between the pursuit of Jefferson Davis as he tried to move the Confederate Government (such as it was at that point) from Richmond further south and the more parade-like journey of Lincoln's body from Washington to Springfield for burial.

I enjoyed reading Swanson's Manhunt. It was fast-paced and very well-written, and Swanson marshaled the facts in a dramatic way, making the book seem more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. Swanson's book didn't add any new details to the story, but certainly told "The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth" in a compelling way. I expect the same from Bloody Crimes.

Vampire Hunter Movie Finds Studio Home

Evidently 20th Century Fox believes that they can make money with the forthcoming film version of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. According to Variety, they put out quite the effort, along with ponying up an undisclosed amount of cash, to win the rights to the Tim Burton-produced movie.

Despite Burton's name, it seems to me that a $69 million film (plus a "who knows how much" amount to spend on advertising) featuring Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires needs more than 3-D gimmickry -- it needs the cast of Twilight too if it's going to make any money. Imagine this juicy tidbit: the most difficult decision Lincoln faced during the war wasn't whether or not to free the slaves; it was deciding between Team Edward and Team Jacob.