Movie and TV Presidents: Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln
While there have been many outstanding portrayals of Presidents of the United States by some very fine actors, one recently earned the actor an Academy Award for Best Actor for his on-screen portrayal of the Chief Executive. Lincoln is a 2012 film based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2006 best-selling book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, but since the book contained too much material for one movie, this film focused on the last four months of Lincoln's life.The film describes the President's efforts in January 1865 to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives.
The film was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. Daniel Day-Lewis starred in the title role as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field played the role of Mary Todd Lincoln. Filming began October 17, 2011 and ended on December 19, 2011. It premiered on October 8, 2012 at the New York Film Festival and was released theatrically on November 9, 2012, in select cities and widely released on November 16, 2012, in the United States. The film's distributor was DreamWorks through Disney's Touchstone distribution label in the U.S.
Lincoln received widespread critical acclaim, with most of the praise directed at Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. In December 2012, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for Spielberg and winning Best Actor (Motion Picture – Drama) for Day-Lewis. At the 85th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards including Best Picture; it won for Best Production Design and Best Actor for Day-Lewis. The film was also a commercial success, having grossed more than $263 million at the box office.
Other notable cast members are David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Lincoln, James Spader as W.N. Bilbo, Hal Holbrook (who played the part of Lincoln in the 1976 miniseries) as Preston Blair, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate States Vice-President Alexander Stephens, Bruce McGill as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Tim Blake Nelson as Richard Schell, Joseph Cross as John Hay and Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant.
In his review of the film in the New York Times, A. O. Scott wrote:
"Go see this movie. Take your children, even though they may occasionally be confused or fidgety. Boredom and confusion are also part of democracy, after all. Lincoln is a rough and noble democratic masterpiece — an omen, perhaps, that movies for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Following is the trailer for the film:
The film was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. Daniel Day-Lewis starred in the title role as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field played the role of Mary Todd Lincoln. Filming began October 17, 2011 and ended on December 19, 2011. It premiered on October 8, 2012 at the New York Film Festival and was released theatrically on November 9, 2012, in select cities and widely released on November 16, 2012, in the United States. The film's distributor was DreamWorks through Disney's Touchstone distribution label in the U.S.
Lincoln received widespread critical acclaim, with most of the praise directed at Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. In December 2012, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for Spielberg and winning Best Actor (Motion Picture – Drama) for Day-Lewis. At the 85th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards including Best Picture; it won for Best Production Design and Best Actor for Day-Lewis. The film was also a commercial success, having grossed more than $263 million at the box office.
Other notable cast members are David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Lincoln, James Spader as W.N. Bilbo, Hal Holbrook (who played the part of Lincoln in the 1976 miniseries) as Preston Blair, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate States Vice-President Alexander Stephens, Bruce McGill as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Tim Blake Nelson as Richard Schell, Joseph Cross as John Hay and Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant.
In his review of the film in the New York Times, A. O. Scott wrote:
"Go see this movie. Take your children, even though they may occasionally be confused or fidgety. Boredom and confusion are also part of democracy, after all. Lincoln is a rough and noble democratic masterpiece — an omen, perhaps, that movies for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Following is the trailer for the film: