Lincoln (2012)

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  • LINCOLN


    DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG
    PRODUCED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG/ KATHLEEN KENNEDY
    DREAMWORKS SKG/ TOUCHSTONE PICTURES
    TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION


    lincoln-2012-movie-title-banner.jpg

    Information from IMDb


    Plot Summary
    In 1865, as the American Civil War winds inexorably toward conclusion,
    U.S. president Abraham Lincoln endeavors to achieve passage
    of the landmark constitutional amendment which will forever ban slavery from the United States.
    However, his task is a race against time, for peace may come at any time,
    and if it comes before the amendment is passed, the returning southern states will stop it
    before it can become law.
    Lincoln must, by almost any means possible, obtain enough votes from a recalcitrant Congress
    before peace arrives and it is too late. Y
    et the president is torn, as an early peace would save thousands of lives.
    As the nation confronts its conscience over the freedom of its entire population,
    Lincoln faces his own crisis of conscience -- end slavery or end the war.
    Written by Jim Beaver


    Full Cast
    Daniel Day-Lewis ... Abraham Lincoln
    Sally Field ... Mary Todd Lincoln
    David Strathairn ... William Seward
    Joseph Gordon-Levitt ... Robert Lincoln
    James Spader ... W.N. Bilbo
    Hal Holbrook ... Preston Blair
    Tommy Lee Jones ... Thaddeus Stevens
    John Hawkes ... Robert Latham
    Jackie Earle Haley ... Alexander Stephens
    Bruce McGill ... Edwin Stanton
    Tim Blake Nelson ... Richard Schell
    Joseph Cross ... John Hay
    Jared Harris ... Ulysses S. Grant
    Lee Pace ... Fernando Wood
    Peter McRobbie ... George Pendleton
    Gulliver McGrath ... Tad Lincoln
    Gloria Reuben ... Elizabeth Keckley
    Jeremy Strong ... John Nicolay
    Michael Stuhlbarg ... George Yeaman
    Boris McGiver ... Alexander Coffroth
    David Costabile ... James Ashley
    Stephen Spinella ... Asa Vintner Litton
    Walton Goggins ... Clay Hawkins
    David Warshofsky ... William Hutton
    Colman Domingo ... Private Harold Green
    David Oyelowo ... Corporal Ira Clark
    Lukas Haas ... First White Soldier
    Dane DeHaan ... Second White Soldier (as Dane Dehaan)
    Carlos Thompson ... Navy Yard - Shouting Soldier
    Bill Camp ... Mr. Jolly
    Elizabeth Marvel ... Mrs. Jolly
    Byron Jennings ... Montgomery Blair
    Julie White ... Elizabeth Blair Lee
    Charmaine White ... Minerva - Blair's Servant (as Charmaine Crowell-White)
    Ralph D. Edlow ... Leo - Blair's Servant
    Grainger Hines ... Gideon Welles
    Richard Topol ... James Speed
    Walt Smith ... William Fessenden
    Dakin Matthews ... John Usher
    James 'Ike' Eichling ... William Dennison (as James Ike Eichling)
    Wayne Duvall ... Senator Bluff Wade
    Bill Raymond ... Schuyler Colfax
    Michael Stanton Kennedy ... Hiram Price
    Ford Flannagan ... White House Doorkeeper - Tom Pendel
    Robert Ayers ... White House Petitioner (as Bob Ayers)
    Robert Peters ... Jacob Graylor
    John Moon ... Edwin LeClerk
    Kevin Lawrence O'Donnell ... Charles Hanson
    Jamie Horton ... Giles Stuart
    Joe Dellinger ... Nelson Merrick (as Joseph Dellinger)
    Richard Warner ... Homer Benson
    Elijah Chester ... Union Army Officer
    Dave Hager ... Captain Nathan Saunders - River Queen
    Sean Haggerty ... Officer in Peace Commissioners Exchange
    Mike Shiflett ... Senator R.M.T. Hunter (as Michael Shiflett)
    Gregory Itzin ... Judge John A. Campbell
    Stephen Dunn ... Petersburg Siege Lines - Confederate Officer
    Stephen Henderson ... William Slade (as Stephen McKinley Henderson)
    Chase Edmunds ... Willie Lincoln
    John Hutton ... Senator Charles Sumner
    Robert Ruffin ... Major Thompson Eckert
    Drew Sease ... David Homer Bates
    John Lescault ... Gustavus Fox
    Scott Wichmann ... Charles Benjamin
    Adam Driver ... Samuel Beckwith
    and many, many more....


    Production Companies
    DreamWorks SKG (presents) (as DreamWorks Pictures)
    Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century Fox)
    Reliance Entertainment (presents)
    Participant Media (in association with)
    Dune Entertainment (in association with)
    Amblin Entertainment
    Kennedy/Marshall Company, The


    Produced
    Kathleen Kennedy .... producer
    Jonathan King .... executive producer
    Daniel Lupi .... executive producer
    Kristie Macosko .... co-producer (as Kristie Macosko Krieger)
    Jeff Skoll .... executive producer
    Adam Somner .... co-producer
    Steven Spielberg .... producer


    Writing Credits
    Tony Kushner (screenplay)
    Doris Kearns Goodwin (book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln") (in part)


    Original Music
    John Williams


    Cinematography
    Janusz Kaminski


    Trivia
    John Logan and Paul Webb wrote earlier drafts of the screenplay before Tony Kushner was hired. Steven Spielberg was reportedly impressed with Kushner's work on Munich, which led to his hiring.


    Abraham Lincoln's "Bixby Letter" was an indirect plot device in an earlier Steven Spielberg film, Saving Private Ryan. Additionally, his "Gettysburg Address" is recited by a schoolboy in the opening scene of another Spielberg film, Minority Report.


    Liam Neeson, who was attached to play Abraham Lincoln since the project began development, decided to drop out. According to Neeson, he felt he was too old to play the part after waiting so many years for the project to get the go-ahead. Incidentally Daniel Day-Lewis is only five years Neeson's junior, though still closest in age to Lincoln, who was 55 and 56 years of age at the time portrayed in the film.


    Harrison Ford was rumored to appear in the film in a role as V.P. Andrew Johnson at one point during the development of the film but the rumor has since become completely unsubstantiated after all the delays & turnarounds on the film's development over the years. Ultimately, there is no mention or sign of Johnson's character in the final version of the film, with the possible exception of the inauguration scene.


    Steven Spielberg was already developing this film when he met with Doris Kearns Goodwin and confided in her that he wanted to make a film about Lincoln. She told him that she had just finished her book Team of Rivals. Spielberg obtained a copy and read it, and immediately decided to use it as the basis for the film.


    Hal Holbrook, who plays Francis Preston Blair, won an Emmy for playing Abraham Lincoln in the 1974 TV mini-series Lincoln. He also played Lincoln in the North and South mini-series, and in an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."


    Steven Spielberg expressed interest in Remo Vinzens playing the part of the revolutionary leader in Lincoln.


    Actor Daniel Day-Lewis previously portrayed Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a character who opposed Lincoln's political plans.


    David Strathairn (playing William Seward) previously played Lincoln in the LA Theatre Works 2008 production of Norman Corwin's The Rivalry, which dramatized the Lincoln-Douglas debates.


    Once Daniel Day-Lewis decided on the voice that he would use to portray Lincoln, he sent an audiotape of it to Director Steven Spielberg in a box with a skull & crossbones on it so no one but he would hear it first.


    The great-grandfather of Michael Stanton Kennedy was a newspaperman from the town where his character, Hiram Price, lived. When filming the scene where the 13th Amendment passes, Kennedy started to cry and couldn't explain why until later, when he told Steven Spielberg "We're in this room recreating one of the most important moments in American history... and up there [in the balcony] with the press sat my great-grandfather."


    Steven Spielberg spent 12 years researching the film. He recreated Lincoln's Executive Mansion office precisely, with the same wallpaper and books Lincoln used. The ticking of Lincoln's watch in the film is the sound of Lincoln's actual pocket watch. Lincoln's watch is housed in the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, Kentucky (not the Lincoln Presidential Library.) It is the watch he carried the day of his assassination.


    Describing his experience playing Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis said, "I never, ever felt that depth of love for another human being that I never met. And that's, I think, probably the effect that Lincoln has on most people that take the time to discover him... I wish he had stayed [with me] forever."


    During the three and a half months of filming, Steven Spielberg addressed his actors in character: he called Daniel Day-Lewis "Mr. President," and Sally Field "Mrs. Lincoln," or "Molly." Additionally, he wore a suit every day on set: "I think I wanted to get into the role, more than anything else, of being part of that experience - because we were recreating a piece of history. And so I didn't want to look like the schlubby, baseball cap wearing 21st century guy; I wanted to be like the cast."


    During production, the part of Abraham Lincoln is listed on the call sheet as being played by Abraham Lincoln, not Daniel Day-Lewis.


    Sally Field was so determined to play Mary Todd Lincoln, she begged Steven Spielberg for the chance to screen test alongside Daniel Day-Lewis. Spielberg believed she was too old to play the part, but Field was adamant. She recalled, "I'm 10 years older than Daniel and 20 years older than Abraham Lincoln's wife was and Steven told me he didn't see me in the role. But I knew I was right for this part and begged him to let me audition for it. He was kind enough to do that and Daniel is such a sweetheart that he flew over from his home in Ireland to screen test with me. I'll love him forever for that."


    Steven Spielberg told a preview audience in Manhattan that screenwriter Tony Kushner spent about six years working on the movie. Originally it was conceived of as a bio film exploring Lincoln's entire life story, but eventually was whittled down to the events surrounding the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the U.S. detailed in Doris Kearns Goodwin 's book "Team of Rivals".


    According to Steven Spielberg, it was actor James Spader's idea to have his character seen as indulging in hand-carving a wooden duck, a preoccupation that Spader's personal research revealed to be one of the major hobbies of Civil War-era America.


    Steven Spielberg has explained that during the movie's climactic scene in which the names of House of Representative members are being called to vote on the 13th Amendment, the names of many of the men who voted 'No' --for various reasons--were actually changed in the film so as not to embarrass the living descendants of these men whose reputations might have been stained by their negative vote-casting.


    Abraham and Mary have one of their famous fights, in which he threatens to have her committed to a mad house. In the case of this film, the issue they fight over is Robert's enlistment in the army. Coincidentally, it would be Robert who ultimately did commit her to an insane asylum, tragically leading to their permanent estrangement.


    At one point in the movie, Lincoln scornfully references Tammany Hall. In Daniel Day-Lewis's earlier work, Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis's character is in a quasi-alliance with Boss Tweed, who ran Tammany Hall during the Civil War.


    Lobbyist William N. Bilbo's (James Spader) appearance was created from scratch because not a single photo of him exists. His eccentric presence was taken from various sources.


    In several scenes in the Cabinet Room, a tube can be seen hanging between the ceiling and the table. This is a rubber hose carrying natural gas (methane) from the overhead gas lighting system to the table lamp. The hose occasionally moves slightly, seemingly on its own, due to fluctuations in the pressure of the natural gas system.


    After 10 years of development, director Steven Spielberg finally decided he would only "make 'Lincoln' if Daniel Day-Lewis decided to play him, and I would not make 'Lincoln' had Daniel decided not to play him."


    After Liam Neeson dropped out, Steven Spielberg returned to his original choice for the titular role, Daniel Day-Lewis. Day-Lewis declined because he didn't know if he could play such an iconic role. It was Leonardo DiCaprio who convinced him to take the role after Spielberg told him that Day-Lewis declined. It is unknown how DiCaprio convinced Day-Lewis to take the role.


    Asa-Luke Twocrow, who plays Lt.Col. Ely Parker was a member of the Lincoln rigging crew. His resemblance to the Seneca sachem was so uncanny, he was approached by the casting department to play the role. He would change into his costume as Grant's secretary, shoot the scene, and then change back into his crew gear and return to work as a rigger.


    Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel, who play Mr. and Mrs. Jolly (the couple who comes to Lincoln to have him arbitrate a toll-booth dispute) are also married to each other in real life.


    In this movie, Lincoln occasionally refers to his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as "Molly." This was a real-life term of endearment that Lincoln sometimes called her; it was a family nickname from her childhood.


    While giving a fiery speech against Lincoln, Fernando Wood calls him "King Abraham Africanus Lincoln." This epithet is based on a real pamphlet from 1864 titled "Abraham Africanus I: his secret life, revealed under the mesmeric influence; mysteries of the White House." This pamphlet, printed by the "Copperheads" (a group of Democrats from outside the Confederacy who were nonetheless sympathetic to the Confederate cause and opposed to Lincoln), claimed that Lincoln had signed a contract with Satan to enable him to seize the US presidency for life and to "subvert the liberties of the American people and debauch their civic aspirations; to impose upon them in every imaginable form of low cunning, and cheat them with words of double meaning and with false promises, until by these, and kindred means, that end is accomplished, and his dynasty firmly established." The real Fernando Wood was a Copperhead.


    According to producer Kathleen Kennedy, the film commission in Richmond (VA) was able to accommodate the production's pursuit of historical authenticity by granting extensive access to government buildings while they were out of session.


    Sally Field gained 25 pounds in order to more accurately portray Mrs. Lincoln.


    Every major character in the film was a real person or at least a composite of real figures and the film strives to reflect the actual actions or thoughts of the historical figures.


    Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gulliver McGrath who play Lincoln's sons Robert and Tad, have both played the character of "Dark Shadows" David Collins. Levitt in the 1991 Dark Shadows revival and McGrath in Tim Burton's 2012 Dark Shadows film.


    Although some viewers were surprised by the usage of the word "fuck" in the movie, the Oxford English Dictionary dates the word back to (at least) the early 1500s, around 350 years before the American Civil War and Lincoln's presidency. In the movie, the word is used only twice, both times by the vulgar and rough Bilbo character as a way of demonstrating his uncouthness. Viewers who thought they also heard Lincoln using the term to describe "Tammany Hall hucksters" during a monologue actually misheard the then-common word "pettifogging."


    Daniel Day-Lewis originally turned down the role of Lincoln, sending Steven Spielberg this letter: "Dear Steven. It was a real pleasure just to sit and talk with you. I listened very carefully to what you had to say about this compelling history, and I've since read the script and found it -- in all the detail of which it describes these monumental events and in the compassionate portraits of all the principle characters -- both powerful and moving. I can't account for how at any given moment I feel the need to explore one life as opposed to another. But I do know that I can only do this work if I feel almost as if there's no choice; that a subject coincides inexplicably with a very personal need and a very specific moment in time. In this case, as fascinated as I was by 'Abe,' it was the fascination of a grateful spectator who longed to see a story told rather than that of a participant. That's how I feel now in spite of myself, and though I can't be sure this won't change, I couldn't dream of encouraging you to keep it open on a mere possibility. I do hope this makes sense Steven. I'm glad you're making the film. I wish you the strength for it and I send both my very best wishes and my sincere gratitude to you for having considered me. Daniel."


    James Spader was personally instructed by Daniel Day-Lewis to be "as nasty as possible" to portray William N. Bilbo.


    This film marks Sally Field's first Academy Award nomination since 1985 for "Places In The Heart". This is also Field's very first nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.


    Steven Spielberg wore a suit and tie every day to work while directing in order to better blend in with the actors.


    The baton used by the conductor (Mark Ian Holt ) in the Faust Opera scene with the president and Mrs. Lincoln was owned by William Kushner ( screenwriter Tony Kushner 's father), who was a clarinetist, and for 40 years, the conductor of the Lake Charles (Louisiana) Symphony Orchestra. It is an authentic 19th century baton, ebony with an ivory handle, that Tony asked to be used to honor his dad, who died in March 2012.


    In the title role, Daniel Day-Lewis sports Lincoln's iconic stovepipe hat, a style of headgear he coincidentally wore in Gangs of New York.


    The ticking heard from Lincoln's pocket watch as he sits at his desk and plays with it is the actual ticking sound from the watch he carried in his pocket. An Audio engineer went to the museum in Kentucky where the watch is kept to get sound bites from it.


    In February 2013, numerous news sources reported that this movie led to the final, official 50-state ratification of the 13th Amendment, nearly 150 years after it was ratified by three-fourths of the US states. In November 2012, Dr Ranjan Batra, a (non-historian) academic at the University of Mississippi, saw the movie Lincoln. He did an Internet search to find out more about the 13th Amendment, and, along with his colleague Ken Sullivan, discovered that although Mississippi voted to ratify the amendment in 1995, a clerical oversight caused that vote to remain unacknowledged officially: the Mississippi Secretary of State never sent the vote's result to the US Office of the Federal Register. Sullivan also went to see the film, and then the two men urged the office of the Mississippi Secretary of State to file that paperwork, which they did on January 30, 2013; on February 7, 2013, the director of the Federal Register responded that the resolution had been received and that the State of Mississippi had finally ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.


    The second film directed by Steven Spielberg where an American president is portrayed by a British actor, in Amistad Martin Van Buren and John Quincy Adams are portrayed by Nigel Hawthorne and Anthony Hopkins, respectively


    Daniel Day-Lewis became the first actor to receive an Oscar for working with Steven Spielberg, the first actor to win three Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role (presented to him by Meryl Streep, which holds the same record for Best Actress), the first actor to receive an Oscar for playing Lincoln, but the second to receive a nomination for playing him. Previously, Raymond Massey was nominated for the role in Spirit of the People.


    By winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film, Daniel Day-Lewis became the first actor or actress to win an acting Oscar of any kind for a movie directed by Steven Spielberg.


    Goofs
    Anachronisms
    Mary Lincoln worries that Robert will be killed by a sniper. The term sniper was not used in the US until well after the Civil War. The equivalent term was sharp shooter.


    During a scene after one of the House sessions, the camera pans to the Washington statue in the Virginia Presidents room at the Virginia State Capitol. Shots from the front include the bust to the right, President Woodrow Wilson, who was born in 1856.


    Near the beginning of the film, Thaddeus Stevens leaves his office. He opens a door, and it closes via an automatic door closer, which was invented in the 1880s.


    William Bilbo mentions that Lincoln's face is on the 50-cent piece. Lincoln appeared on the 50-cent fractional currency piece (paper currency that was issued instead of silver coins during the Civil War), but not until the fourth series, which started in 1869.


    Many scenes include modern 50-star flags. They should have 25 or 36 stars.


    Shortly after Thaddeus Stevens tell the full House that he's not for racial equality, he walks outside into the rotunda area and sits down. He is quickly joined by an angry fellow Representative. The shot of him sitting on a bench in the rotunda shows a modern electrical outlet in the wall below him.


    The band members seen playing in the early scene of the flag pole dedication are shown wearing uniforms with rank chevrons (stripes) pointing upwards - as the US army has done but only since early 1900. In the same scene a blue coated soldier has his chevrons correctly pointed downwards.


    Early in the movie there is a military band playing. There is a clarinetist who's using a modern Boehm-fingering clarinet. Until the 1930s or so clarinets were made with the Albert fingering keys. The curved register key is the Albert giveaway, which is not seen in the band's clarinet.


    Character error
    At the beginning of the film, a young soldier tells Lincoln that he'd heard Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address two years earlier. The scene is set in December 1864 or early January 1865. Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, 13 months earlier.


    In the film, Tad's speech is very clear. Historically, Tad Lincoln was described as having a pronounced speech impediment due to a cleft palate, making his words hard to understand.


    Continuity
    When Grant and Lincoln are talking at the house during Lincoln's visit to Petersburg, they both stand up, Lincoln extends his hand to shake Grant's hand, and Grant takes it. In the next shot, Lincoln extends his hand and Grant takes it again.


    Preston Blair takes Tad Lincoln by both hands. In shots from one angle, Blair's hands under Tad's. In shots from another angle, Tad's hands are under Blair's.


    At the end of Lincoln's short conversation with Seward and Mr. and Mrs. Jolly, Seward's cigar is much shorter than it should be after only a few puffs.


    When Robert waits outside the military hospital, the shot from inside the hospital shows the American flag over the door billowing in a breeze. In the next shot, from outside, the flag is completely still.


    In the opening scene, as the soldiers start to disperse and return to their units, the shot from behind Lincoln shows Private Green turning and throwing his gun around his shoulder. In the next scene, shot from behind Private Green, he turns and throws the gun around his shoulder again.


    When the President slams his hand on the desk to stop everyone from arguing, he hits his glasses, which move in front of his book. Two pans later, the glasses have disappeared.


    When Thaddeus Stevens takes the original bill after the vote, he folds it in half vertically. When his housekeeper, Lydia Smith, reads it to him in bed, the document's crease is horizontal.


    When President Lincoln is speaking to Private Green and Corporal Clark, shots from behind the soldiers show a hard rain falling, with water dripping off Clark's hat every few seconds. Shots from in front of the two soldiers shows very little rain, and no water drips from Clark's hat.


    When Lincoln and Tad are going to the military hospital in the carriage, Lincoln clearly puts the papers he is working on in a folder on his left. In the next shot, the papers are back in his lap, and he puts them in the briefcase.


    Throughout the speech by Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) to his cabinet which begins with him slamming the table and saying, "I can't listen to this anymore..." Seward (David Straitharn) rests his clasped hands under his chin. As Lincoln says "...with the fate of human dignity in our hands" Seward lowers his hands from his chin. In the very next shot, as Lincoln shouts "Now! Now! Now!", Seward's hands are once again clasped under his chin resulting in a "jump cut."


    When General Grant's staff emerges from Appomattox Courthouse, Ely Parker is behind Grant and stands with his hands crossed in front of him. In the next shot, Grant starts descending the stairs to greet R.E. Lee, and Parker emerges from inside the courthouse crossing his hands.


    While the amendment is being debated in the chamber, the papers on the stand the speaker uses vary between shots.


    Errors in geography
    During the debate on the day before the vote is taken, Lincoln's team has to rush back to the White House to secure a letter from Lincoln which will reassure the house that he has not met with Confederate commissioners. The team members are seen running out of the Front of the Capitol to do this. But the Capitol was built the wrong way round and, in reality, they would have rushed out the back to get to the White House faster.


    Factual errors
    Lincoln's secretary, John Nicolay, was Bavarian by birth, and spoke with a heavy German accent.


    When Congress debates and ultimately votes on the 13th Amendment, every desk in the chamber is occupied. Eighteen seats should have been empty, because of the states that seceded.


    The two-seat horse buggy ridden by Lincoln had two men in the front, but they're in the wrong places. The shotgun rider should be on the right, and the coachman, with the whip, should be on the left, to protect pedestrians from the whip.


    When the Speaker of the House does the Congressional roll call, in alphabetical order by state, he starts with Connecticut. He should've started with California, which was admitted to the union in 1850 and had 3 representatives in the 38th congress (March 1863 to March 1865).


    In 1863, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton "commissioned" Tad Lincoln an artillery 2nd lieutenant. In the film, Tad wears the uniform of an infantry lieutenant colonel, outranking his brother, Captain Robert Lincoln, by two grades.


    In many of the scenes set in the House of Representatives, the marble behind the Speaker bears the words "State of Virginia." All of the House scenes were filmed in the Old Chamber at the Virginia State Capitol, in Richmond, Va.


    Raymond H. Johnson plays Republican Congressman John F. McKenzie, but the end credits list a different actor. Raymond H. Johnson is listed in the End Credits as Raymond Johnson, under House of Representatives.


    W.N. Bilbo (James Spader) refers to murderous congressman "Bob" Hollister, when in fact the character is determined to be named Harold Hollister during the vote on the 13th amendment.


    In Lincoln's death scene, he is shown lying somewhat on his side, on top of the covers on a bed at the Petersen House (across from Ford's Theatre). In actuality, he lingered nearly ten hours and had been put into bed under the covers to keep him warm, and diagonally, because he was so tall he wouldn't have fit otherwise.


    In the scene where Lincoln is speaking with Ms. Keckley on the North Portico, columns can be seen along the north facing wall of the White House to Lincoln's left. The White House has never had columns along this wall.


    The U.S. Capitol dome is shown as being gray in color, when, in fact, it has always been completely white since its completion in 1863.


    Two Connecticut Congressmen vote against the 13th Amendment during the movie, however, all four Connecticut Congressman actually supported and voted in favor of the Amendment in 1865.


    Revealing mistakes
    Early in the film, Lincoln meets with Seward and others in a White House office or drawing room, and bright daylight streams through a window in the background. The camera briefly pans past a clock that reads 5 pm, very close to sunset in mid-November.


    Incorrectly regarded as goofs
    Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) says that the 13th amendment will be the first time slavery is mentioned in the Constitution. Slavery is often believed to be mentioned explicitly - particularly in the first paragraph of Article 1, Section 9 - but it was not. In fact, the absence of the direct mention of slavery formed the basis of an argument made by abolitionists including Lysander Spooner that slavery was unconstitutional even before the 13th amendment.


    Several characters refer to The White House. At the time, it was officially called "The Executive Mansion," but was informally known as the White House. Teddy Roosevelt made the name official in 1901.


    During the show at the end, the pit orchestra plays Beethoven's "Egmont" Overture. The scene is a play (not a concert) attended by Tad Lincoln that night at Grover's Theater: "Aladdin! Or His Wonderful Lamp."


    Memorable Quotes


    Filming Locations
    Virginia Rep Center - 114 W. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, USA
    (theater scenes)
    Laburnum House - 1300 Westwood Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, USA
    (cabinet member's office)
    Union Station - 103 River Street, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (Lincoln's flag-raising speech)
    407 Cockade Alley, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (scene of argument leading to gunfire)
    State Farm, Powhatan, Virginia, USA
    (battlefield scenes)
    AMF Headquarters, 8100 AMF Drive, Mechanicsville, Mechanicsville, Virginia, USA
    (White House interiors)
    State Capitol, Capitol Square - Ninth & Grace Streets, Richmond, Virginia, USA
    (U.S. Capitol scenes)
    Executive Mansion, Capitol Square - Ninth & Grace Streets, Richmond Virginia, USA
    (White House interiors)
    Morson's Row - 219-223 Governor Street, Richmond, Virginia, USA
    (Thaddeus Stevens' home)
    Old Towne Petersburg Farmer's Market - River Street, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (Grant's Headquarters interiors)
    McIlwaine House - 425 Cockade Alley, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (Lincoln's talk to Congressman)
    Appomattox Iron Works, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (scene of Seward talking with his operatives)
    Old Street, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (carriage ride scenes)
    9th Street Office Building - 202 N. 9th Street, Richmond, Virginia, USA
    (White House telegraph office)
    South Side Railroad Depot - Rock and River Streets, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    (hospital and restaurant interiors)
    Maymont - 2201 Shields Lake Drive, Richmond, Virginia, USA
    (Appomattox scenes; President and First Lady's carriage ride)
    New Millennium Studios - One New Millennium Drive, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    Petersburg, Virginia, USA
    Richmond, Virginia, USA


    Watch the Trailer


    [extendedmedia]

    [/extendedmedia]

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 3 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Lincoln is a 2012 American historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg,
    starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln
    and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.
    The film is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography
    Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and covers the final four months
    of Lincoln's life, focusing on 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.


    Filming began October 17, 2011, and ended on December 19, 2011.
    Lincoln premiered on October 8, 2012 at the New York Film Festival.
    The film was released on November 9, 2012, in select cities and widely released
    on November 16, 2012, in the United States by DreamWorks through Disney's Touchstone
    distribution label in the U.S.
    The film was released on January 25, 2013,
    in the United Kingdom, with distribution in international territories,
    including the U.K., by 20th Century Fox.


    Lincoln received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise directed to 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 $253 million at the box office.


    User Review

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • Must say, I am not much for the modern movies. In fact it took some of my friends quite a while to talk me into watching even TOMBSTONE. However, I believe I will just have to find a friend and look for a place showing Lincoln. Sounds too good to be true in your glowing review, Keith, however you have talked me into it. Once I see it, I will write a bit on it here, or in the proper place. Thanks, KEITH

    God, she reminds me of me! DUKE

  • Outstanding movie. Watching Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln, it really made me think it was like watching the real Lincoln in action. Day-Lewis definitely deserved his best actor Oscar and this movie should've won best picture.

  • Lincoln. This was an interesting movie. Should have been named The 13th Amendment. That was the point of the whole movie and it was good, but just tedious to watch for 2 and a half hours. It was alright, but expected something completely different.



    Quote

    "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it"

    - John Wayne quote

  • Great movie, just screened again on UK TV.


    DDL is amazingly immersed as Lincoln.
    Equally though I enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones and his portrayal as Stevens.


    Great acting, great production and superb direction

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England