For many years, Liam Neeson was attached to star in Steven Spielberg’s Abraham Lincoln biopic, which would reteam Neeson with the filmmaker who helped take him to an Oscar nomination for his role in Schindler’s List. The casting seemed perfect because the resemblance is uncanny and Neeson is one of the most respected actors in the industry, but it now looks like the project will have to look for another star. Neeson told the site Digital Spy recently he’s no longer attached to the project essentially because it’s been taking too long since his name was first mentioned.
He told the site:
“I’m not actually playing Lincoln now. I was attached to it for a while, but it’s now I’m past my sell-by date.”
Who knows what will happen with the DreamWorks project without Neeson attached, since few people can imagine another actor in the role, as talented a pool as Spielberg has to draw from… being that he IS Steven Spielberg. Maybe once Spielberg has finished the next few movies he has on his slate–The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn and War Horse are both scheduled for 2011–he’ll come back to Abraham Lincoln and make Neeson an offer he can’t refuse to make the movie with him. For now, it looks like the project has gone from a rather dormant state of development hell into some sort of limbo.
