Jeff Wells has received one of his now famous third party bits of information and this time he brings news that we just might see Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln getting the greenlight in the next week or so.
The news comes as one of his readers reports from a Harvard University Institute of Politics forum at which playwright and Lincoln scripter Tony Kushner is speaking and said “the decision will be made on Lincoln next week” and that if the green light is given the film will be “out by Christmas.”
On top of that Kushner reportedly said the film “only covers two months of his life,” and that “the first draft covered four months and [was] 500 pages,” and the 13th amendment — the abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude — “is a big thing in the movie.”
Wells takes this information and presumes Kushner meant the film will cover the last two months of Lincoln’s life, or roughly February 15th to April 15th, 1865 — the day of his death. He adds, “The 13th amendment was enacted on December 6, 1865, so there’ll apparently be a little skipping around, event- and chronology-wise.”
This isn’t anything new for Spielberg who pulled a similar rush job on Munich in 2005 when he began principal photography in early July and the film debuted on December 23 that year and went on to earn $130 million worldwide and was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. Kushner also penned Munich with the aid of Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
As things stand right now it is assumed Liam Neeson will star as the 16th President and Sally Field has been attached to play his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln.
Strangely enough, I mentioned the possibility of this film getting the greenlight earlier today when it was confirmed Spielberg’s DreamWorks had joined with Disney in a distribution deal.
