Daniel Day Lewis to play Lincoln

[pippi]

PERFECT casting - Daniel Day Lewis is a genius! (he could also easily play an ayn rand movie hero so well - i would love to see it!)

Steven Spielberg tho...

will this be aka "Lincoln Sucked"?

I so hope not

[9thdoctor]

Steven Spielberg tho...

will this be aka "Lincoln Sucked"?

Why do you count Spielberg’s involvement as a negative? He’s made many classic films and has a great batting average. The big question I have is whether they’re going to gloss over or omit Lincoln’s civil rights and free speech record.

[sbeaulieu]

My favorite role of his was from Gangs of New York. Amazing talent! I'm looking forward to this.

~ Shane

[BaalChatzaf]

PERFECT casting - Daniel Day Lewis is a genius! (he could also easily play an ayn rand movie hero so well - i would love to see it!)

Steven Spielberg tho...

will this be aka "Lincoln Sucked"?

I so hope not

Spielberg is NOT Oliver Stone.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Kimmler]

Yes, he was brilliant in There will be blood, a film based on a book (Oil) by Upton Sinclair.

As for Spielberg...with the exception of Schindlers Listhe makes mindless hokum. To be honest I'm not a fan of his, though I admire him for keeping his films free of bad language and nudity. His films are often little more than fairground rides (think Jaws of Indiana Jones).

[9thdoctor]

As for Spielberg...with the exception of Schindlers Listhe makes mindless hokum.

Amistad, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Color Purple…what percentage of his films need to be serious dramas for him to escape such criticism? True, he's been the master of the Summer blockbuster, but Raiders of the Lost Ark was great for what it was, and Jaws I'd defend as a neat synthesis of Ibsen's Enemy of the People and Melville's Moby Dick. Don't bring up the sequels, they're never as good (actually I liked the third Indiana Jones movie quite a bit).

Edited November 24, 2010 by Ninth Doctor

[George H. Smith]

Steven Spielberg tho...

will this be aka "Lincoln Sucked"?

Why do you count Spielberg’s involvement as a negative? He’s made many classic films and has a great batting average. The big question I have is whether they’re going to gloss over or omit Lincoln’s civil rights and free speech record.

I pretty much expect the movie to be a typical hagiagraphical account, especially since Lincoln, a former Whig, was one of the most prominent "big government" men of his era, as well as an ardent nationalist in the tradition of Webster and Clay.

I also expect Lincoln's opposition to slavery to be overdrawn. Lincoln was a gradualist, not an abolitionist; and though he opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, he promised to leave slavery undisturbed in those states that wished to retain it. He also promised to enforce the fugitive slave law.

The nature of Lincoln's gradualism is illustrated in a remark in one of his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858. When Douglas suggested that Lincoln wished to abolish slavery by amending the Constitution, Lincoln denied the charge, arguing instead, in typical gradualist fashion, that slavery would eventually die a natural death. As to how long this might take, Lincoln said: "I do not suppose that...ultimate extinction would occur in less than a hundred years at the least."

Thus, if Lincoln had had his way, slavery would have been eliminated in the United States no sooner than 1958. I seriously doubt if this inconvenient truth will find its way into Spielberg's film. We shall see....

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

George, one might well suspect that Lincoln's gradual gradualism was somewhat disingenuous, politically speaking. In any case, by 1958 most of the South would have been mulatto out of that gradualism context.

--Brant

[George H. Smith]

George, one might well suspect that Lincoln's gradual gradualism was somewhat disingenuous, politically speaking.

Maybe, maybe not. The same possibility pertains to these remarks that Lincoln made during a debate with Douglas (1858):

I will say, then, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races -- that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters of the negroes, or jurors, or qualifying them to hold office, or having them to marry with white people. I will say, in addition, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races, which I suppose, will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality; and inasmuch as they cannot so live, that while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior, that I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white man.

This would make a great Galt-like speech for Lincoln in the forthcoming movie, don't you think? This is one time that a revisionist film by Oliver Stone might be better than a more traditional film by Spielberg.

In any case, sentiments like this can be treated in one of three ways in the film: First, they can be ignored, which is my leading candidate. Second, they can be treated as reflecting Lincoln's sincere beliefs, in which case he would come out looking bad, especially to the millions of Americans who view him as a saint. Or, third, they can be viewed as distortions and lies motivated by political expediency, in which case Lincoln would look even worse. He would come across as just another sleazy politician.

My personal opinion is that the passages I have quoted expressed Lincoln's real beliefs. I don't like Lincoln, politically speaking, but I think he had a lot of integrity. He was also one of the most intelligent presidents we have ever had, and second only to Jefferson as the best writer. At his best, Lincoln was a master of English prose.

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

I think the film would do well to concentrate on the Civil War with flashbacks as one good way to tell Lincoln's early story. I'll grant Lincoln badly wanted to get the war over with because of its death and destruction, but on his terms. That's why he kept replacing his generals.

--Brant

Edited November 25, 2010 by Brant Gaede

[GALTGULCH8]

Being an incurable romantic I found Daniel Day-Lewis' role in The Last of the Mohicans to be delightful especially in his characters scenes with Madeleine Stowe

The music in it was also thrilling.

Here is a link to a six minute version of the entire movie:

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHLoJfnFNv0

[Brant Gaede]

Being an incurable romantic I found Daniel Day-Lewis' role in The Last of the Mohicans to be delightful especially in his characters scenes with Madeleine Stowe

The music in it was also thrilling.

Here is a link to a six minute version of the entire movie:

ttp://www.youtube.c...h?v=aHLoJfnFNv0

I watched 2/3ths of this. Don't watch it. Watch the movie. It's effective butchering if you've not seen the entire movie already. If you have, you won't stand it.

--Brant

no kidding

Edited November 25, 2010 by Brant Gaede

[George H. Smith]

Being an incurable romantic I found Daniel Day-Lewis' role in The Last of the Mohicans to be delightful especially in his characters scenes with Madeleine Stowe

The music in it was also thrilling.

Here is a link to a six minute version of the entire movie:

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHLoJfnFNv0

That's a great movie with a strong individualist theme.

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

I just watched part of the old movie with Randolph Scott and realized why the indian and Anglo girl perished: no miscegenation allowed!

--Brant

[George H. Smith]

Being an incurable romantic I found Daniel Day-Lewis' role in The Last of the Mohicans to be delightful especially in his characters scenes with Madeleine Stowe

The music in it was also thrilling.

Here is a link to a six minute version of the entire movie:

ttp://www.youtube.c...h?v=aHLoJfnFNv0

I watched 2/3ths of this. Don't watch it. Watch the movie. It's effective butchering if you've not seen the entire movie already. If you have, you won't stand it.

How's this for a short version of a movie?

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8fkdBz2bds?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8fkdBz2bds?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8fkdBz2bds?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

U otta be ashamed of uself.

--Brant

funny as funny

[Starbuckle]

GHS wrote: "My personal opinion is that the passages I have quoted expressed Lincoln's real beliefs."

I think it's fair to say that Lincoln and others in the North, as well as many in the South, were reluctant to give due weight explicitly to the role of slavery in causing the war and, early in the war, about the prospects for emancipation. Lincoln had to be concerned about retaining the support of the border states that he had managed to prevent from joining the confederacy; and also about retaining the support of Norther Democrats and others who were less concerned about slavery than especially the radical Republicans, and who bridled at any suggestion that the war was about slavery. So Lincoln had clear and present political reasons for stressing the issue of restoring the union above all, as in his famous lines to Greeley. The South, for its part, in addition to any embarassment about putting the "right to enslave" front and center in any statement of why they were fighting, had hopes early on of getting help from Britain or France.

The Republican program of prohibiting expansion of slavery into the territories was pretty radical at the time in light of the compromises and attempted comprises made in the decades leading up to the war (slavery permitted below a certain geographic line, but banned above it; or the doctrine of "popular sovereignty," leading to bleeding Kansas).

I don't think Lincoln's political positioning gainsays the sincerity of his essential beliefs as he articulated them.

Edited November 25, 2010 by Starbuckle

[caroljane]

I just ran across this and for the one and only time in my life I agree completely with Gulch8. The Last of the Mohicans is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, --to my mind though the real star was not Lewis, great as he is, but the actor who played the Indian villain.He just dominated the screen whenever he was on.

Does anyone know what happened (if anything) with the proposed Spielberg Lincoln movie? Whatever they do with it , it would be brilliant with DDL in the lead.

[Brant Gaede]

I just ran across this and for the one and only time in my life I agree completely with Gulch8. The Last of the Mohicans is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, --to my mind though the real star was not Lewis, great as he is, but the actor who played the Indian villain.He just dominated the screen whenever he was on.

Does anyone know what happened (if anything) with the proposed Spielberg Lincoln movie? Whatever they do with it , it would be brilliant with DDL in the lead.

That was Wes Studi.

--Brant

[caroljane]

I just ran across this and for the one and only time in my life I agree completely with Gulch8. The Last of the Mohicans is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, --to my mind though the real star was not Lewis, great as he is, but the actor who played the Indian villain.He just dominated the screen whenever he was on.

Does anyone know what happened (if anything) with the proposed Spielberg Lincoln movie? Whatever they do with it , it would be brilliant with DDL in the lead.

That was Wes Studi.

--Brant

I just ran across this and for the one and only time in my life I agree completely with Gulch8. The Last of the Mohicans is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, --to my mind though the real star was not Lewis, great as he is, but the actor who played the Indian villain.He just dominated the screen whenever he was on.

Does anyone know what happened (if anything) with the proposed Spielberg Lincoln movie? Whatever they do with it , it would be brilliant with DDL in the lead.

That was Wes Studi.

--Brant

Thanks for the name Brant - I looked him up and was surprised to see he grew up speaking only Cherokee - also that he is a Vietnam vet, at around the same time as you (?)

What a presence he is on the screen.

[Grames]

There is finally a trailer out for this movie. It is good to see Daniel Day Lewis is not too old for an action hero role.

[Peter]

On 11/24/2010 at 5:35 PM, George H. Smith said:

Why do you count Spielberg’s involvement as a negative? He’s made many classic films and has a great batting average. The big question I have is whether they’re going to gloss over or omit Lincoln’s civil rights and free speech record.

‘The Fabelmans’ is fascinating. Especially if you liked Spielberg’s movies like 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981) 'Jurassic Park' (1993) 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) 'Jaws' (1975) 'Schindler’s List' (1993) ‘ET’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

“The Fabelmans.” Director: Steven Spielberg Writer: Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner Stars: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano Genre: Drama  /   Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power  . . . .