This isn’t movie news per se, but it is too fascinating to ignore. On Monday, February 16, The History Channel will debut a new documentary called “Stealing Lincoln’s Body” which is described as such:
Before Lincoln finally came to rest in a steel-and-concrete-reinforced underground vault in Springfield, the president’s body was repeatedly exhumed and moved, his coffin frequently opened. In 1876, eleven years after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, a band of Chicago counterfeiters plotted to steal Lincoln’s body and hold it for ransom. Their plan was to demand $200,000 and the release of the gang’s master engraver, who was in prison in Illinois. The Secret Service–recently formed to deal with the country’s ballooning counterfeiting problem–infiltrated the gang with an informer. It also set in motion a cringe-inducing chain of events in which a group of well-intentioned, self-appointed guardians took it upon themselves to protect Lincoln’s remains by any means necessary. This strange story of Lincoln at un-rest reveals how important this man was to so many, and our reluctance to let such a beloved and visionary leader go.
Inside the show there will be CG digital recreations of Abraham Lincoln done by illustrator and animator Ray Downing and his animation house Studio Macbeth and there is something absolutely fascinating about actually seeing this digital version of Lincoln move. As Downing says in the following featurette, “I never realized how much I wanted to see him walk down a street… until I did.” That statement hits it right on the nose, give it a watch below.
Studio Daily has a Q&A with Downing regarding the project over here and you can visit the official page at The History Channel here.
