Lincoln (2012)
Trivia
Once Daniel Day-Lewis decided on the voice that he would use to portray Lincoln, he sent an audiotape of it to Steven Spielberg in a box with a skull and crossbones on it, so no one but he would hear it first.
Steven Spielberg spent 12 years researching the film. He recreated Abraham 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.
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.
After Liam Neeson dropped out, Steven Spielberg returned to his original choice for the titular role of Abraham Lincoln: 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.
Describing his experience playing Abraham 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."
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."
Asa-Luke Twocrow, who plays Lieutenant Colonel Ely Parker, was a member of the film's 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.
During the three-and-a-half months of filming, Steven Spielberg addressed his actors in character: he called Daniel Day-Lewis "Mr. President" (i.e., Abraham Lincoln) and Sally Field "Mrs. Lincoln" or "Molly" (i.e., Mary Todd Lincoln). 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."
Daniel Day-Lewis originally turned down the role of Abraham 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."
In February 2013, numerous reports stated that this movie led to the final, official 50-state ratification of the 13th Amendment, nearly 150 years after it was approved by three-fourths of the states. In November 2012, Dr. Ranjan Batra, a (non-historian) academician at the University of Mississippi, saw Lincoln (2012), then did an Internet search to find out more about the Amendment. He and his colleague Ken Sullivan discovered that although Mississippi voted to ratify the amendment in 1995, a clerical oversight caused that vote to remain officially unacknowledged, since the Mississippi Secretary of State had never sent the vote's result to the U. S. Office of the Federal Register. After Sullivan also saw the movie, both 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 confirmed its receipt along with the fact that Mississippi had finally ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Daniel Day-Lewis announced that if he won his third Academy Award for this film, he would retire from acting for five years. He did end up winning the award. And his first film after Lincoln was Phantom Thread (2017), which was indeed five years after this film.
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".
According to Steven Spielberg, it was 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.
The Ethan Allen story that Lincoln tells (including its vulgar punchline) is an actual story that Abraham Lincoln loved to tell, according to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is unknown if the story is true or not.
During the time when he was expected to play the title role, Liam Neeson did an extensive and timely amount of research on Abraham Lincoln. He read over 20 books and visited with the then-existing Lincoln Bicentennial Committee in Washington, D.C. The committee granted Neeson access to Lincoln's history such as personal letters. Neeson also visited Ford's Theater and viewed personal items such as Lincoln's wallet and the Bible used for his inauguration.
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."
Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary have one of their famous fights, in which he threatens to have her committed to a madhouse. In the case of this film, the issue they fight over is their son Robert's enlistment in the army. It would be Robert Lincoln who ultimately did commit his mother to an insane asylum, tragically leading to their permanent estrangement.
Several scenes, including those set in the United States Capitol building, were filmed in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. Ironically, that building served as the capitol of the Confederacy during the period in which the film was set.
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.
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 Abraham Lincoln. She told him that she was in the process of writing her book Team of Rivals. Spielberg immediately decided to use it as the basis for the film, and asked to reserve the film rights before the book was finished.
Though movies directed by Steven Spielberg have been nominated for (and won) Academy Awards since Jaws (1975) in 1975, no actor had ever won an Oscar for a Spielberg-directed performance until Daniel Day-Lewis for this movie.
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 biography film exploring Abraham 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".
This was the last Steven Spielberg movie to which renowned film critic Roger Ebert gave a review before his death in April 2013. Ebert gave the film a perfect four stars out of four.
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 Abraham 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," which means arguing endlessly over small legal details.
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.
In a scene where Robert Todd Lincoln debates with his father, who is getting ready for a White House event, Tad sits on the edge of the bed looking at glass photographic plates with a candle. One such photograph is of a slave named Gordon, who is also the subject of a photograph entitled "The Scourged Back". These photos were taken by McPherson and Oliver out of New Orleans and were widely circulated by abolitionists as some of the earliest forms of propaganda in the fight to pass the 13th Amendment to end slavery.
James Spader was personally instructed by Daniel Day-Lewis to be "as nasty as possible" to portray William N. Bilbo.
Sally Field gained 25 pounds in order to more accurately portray Mrs. Lincoln.
In this movie, Lincoln occasionally refers to his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as "Molly." This was a real-life term of endearment that Abraham Lincoln sometimes called her; it was a family nickname from her childhood.
According to Steven Spielberg during a chat at the University of Southern California's film school, the film came very close to premiering on HBO as opposed to premiering in theaters. Spielberg claimed that the only reason why the film reached theaters was due to his co-ownership in DreamWorks Pictures, which was one of the studios behind the film's release.
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.
While giving a fiery speech against Abraham Lincoln, Fernando Wood calls him "King Abrahamus Africanus The First." This was the title of an 1864 pamphlet, which was illustrated with a drawing of Lincoln wearing a crown and subtitled "his secret life, as revealed under the mesmeric influence; mysteries of the White House." This pamphlet was printed by the "Copperheads," a group of Northern Pro-Confederate Democrats to which Wood belonged. It 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."
Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel, who play Mr. and Mrs. Jolly (the couple who comes to Abraham Lincoln to have him arbitrate a toll-booth dispute) are also married to each other in real life.
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.
Toward the beginning of the movie, Lincoln is telling his wife about a nightmare he had the night before, and he says, "I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams." This is a quote from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet (act II, scene ii). Although Abraham Lincoln was almost entirely self-educated, he was an avid reader of Shakespeare's plays; in 1860, the author and critic William Dean Howells wrote that the then-candidate for president was "a diligent student of Shakespeare, to know whom is a liberal education." Daniel Day-Lewis played Hamlet in a 1989 production at London's National Theatre.
This film marks Sally Field's first Academy Award nomination since 1985 for Places in the Heart (1984). This is also Field's very first nomination in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category. It is also the first nomination for which she did not win.
During his meeting with the Confederate delegation, President Lincoln calls Alexander H. Stephens (vice president of the Confederate states) "Alex". The informality is a subtle wink to Lincoln's and Stephens' shared history as former colleagues in Congress for the Whig party. They eventually moved on to different parties, which cemented the differences between the men. Abraham Lincoln - a towering Republican striving to abolish slavery - and Stephens (also known as Little Alec) - a diminutive Democrat who outspokenly defended slavery and white supremacy as a God-given right.
Daniel Day-Lewis was named Best Actor of the Year at the Academy Awards for his performance as Abraham Lincoln in this film. His Oscar was presented to him by Meryl Streep who was named Best Lead Actress the year before for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011). Streep was presented her Oscar by Colin Firth, who had been named Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as King George VI in The King's Speech (2010) one year prior. So in a span of three years, lead-acting Oscars were awarded for portrayals of the King of the United Kingdom, the British Prime Minister, and the President of the United States.
The baton used by the conductor (Mark Ian Holt) in the Faust opera scene with Abraham Lincoln 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.
During production, the part of Abraham Lincoln is listed on the call sheet as being played by Abraham Lincoln, not Daniel Day-Lewis.
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), 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 Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).
The dismembered leg in a glass case briefly seen in the first half of the movie bears a plaque indicating that it is the leg of Major General Daniel Sickles. Sickles lost his leg when he was hit by a cannonball at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, and subsequently donated it to the Army Medical Museum. The leg bones remain on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.
In 2004, Steven Spielberg asked Liam Neeson to take on the lead role for this film project and he accepted. Over the next four years, Neeson read over 20 books, visited government offices, as well as doing additional research in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, under the auspices of doing a full presidency bio of Lincoln from election to assassination. The original screen writer was John Logan; however, playwright Paul Webb rewrote the script. When Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote the book "Team of Rivals", yet another script was done by screenwriter Tony Kushner. This last version focused on the final four months of LIncoln's life, fighting to get the 13th Amendment passed. In 2008, when it was time to begin screening, not only was the idea of the original project changed, but Neeson had lost his wife of 14 years only one month before. The new script was not a good fit with Neeson, and Spielberg was able to cast his original preference for the role.
According to producer Kathleen Kennedy, the film commission in Richmond, Virginia, was able to accommodate the production's pursuit of historical authenticity by granting extensive access to government buildings while they were out of session.
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 (2005), which led to his hiring.
Daniel Day-Lewis previously portrayed Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002), a character who opposed Abraham Lincoln's political plans.
Hal Holbrook, who plays Francis Preston Blair, played Abraham Lincoln on television on multiple occasions. He was filmed as Lincoln in The Ed Sullivan Show: Episode #19.22 (1966), Lincoln (1974) (winning an Emmy), and North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985).
Lin-Manuel Miranda was going to write a musical about Lincoln and the Civil War based on the book "Team of Rivals", but changed his mind when this film went into production first. Miranda would go on to create the critically-acclaimed Hamilton (2020), based on the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton.
At one point in the movie, Abraham Lincoln scornfully references Tammany Hall. In Daniel Day-Lewis's earlier work, Gangs of New York (2002), Day-Lewis's character is in a quasi-alliance with Boss William M. Tweed (played by Jim Broadbent in that film), who ran Tammany Hall during the Civil War.
The U.S. Capitol is shown as having a gray dome at one point; this is correct. The dome is made of iron and was started in the 1850s before the Civil War. Its construction was halted for a year early in the war, for lack of funding, and was finished in 1866, after Lincoln's death. For nearly all of that time, it was its natural gray. As the last step, it was painted white, presumably very close to the completion date.
The names of many that voted against the 13th Amendment were altered for the film. Those Congressmen that voted against it historically are listed along with their party affiliation (D) for Democrat and (U) for Unionist and their State;
Sydenham E. Ancona (D) Pennsylvania, George Bliss (D) Ohio, James Brooks (D) New York, James S. Brown (D) Wisconsin, John W. Chanler (D) New York, Brutus J. Clay (Unionist) Kentucky, Samuel S. Cox (D) Ohio, James A. Cravens (D) Indiana, John L. Dawson (D) Pennsylvania, Charles Denison (D) Pennsylvania, John R. Eden (D) Illinois, Joseph K. Edgerton (D) Indiana, Charles A. Eldridge (D) Wisconsin, William E. Finck (D) Ohio, Henry Grider (U) Kentucky, William A. Hall (U) Missouri, Aaron Harding (U) Kentucky, Henry W. Harrington (D) Indiana, Benjamin G. Harris (D) Maryland, Charles M. Harris (D) Illinois, William S. Holman (D) Indiana, Philip Johnson (D) Pennsylvania, William Johnston (D) Ohio, Martin Kalbfleisch (D) New York, Francis Kernan (D) New York, Anthony L. Knapp (D) Illinois, John Law (D) Indiana, Alexander Long (D) Ohio, Robert Mallory (U) Kentucky, William H. Miller (D) Pennsylvania, James R. Morris (D) Ohio, William R. Morrison (D) Illinois, Warren P. Noble (D) Ohio, John O'Neill (D) Ohio, George H. Pendleton (D) Ohio, Nehemiah Perry (D) New Jersey, John V.L. Pruyn (D) New York, Samuel J. Randall (D) Pennsylvania, James C. Robinson (D) Illinois, Lewis W. Ross (D) Illinois, John G. Scott (D) Missouri, William G. Steele (D) New Jersey, John D. Stiles (D) Pennsylvania, Myer Strouse (D) Pennsylvania, John T. Stuart (D) Illinois, Lorzeno D.M. Sweat (D) Maine, Dwight Townsend (D) New York, William H. Wadsworth (U) Kentucky, Elijah Ward (D) New York, Chilton A. White (D) Ohio, Joseph W. White (D) Ohio, Charles H. Winfield (D) New York, Benjamin Wood (D) New York, and Fernando Wood (D) New York.
Sydenham E. Ancona (D) Pennsylvania, George Bliss (D) Ohio, James Brooks (D) New York, James S. Brown (D) Wisconsin, John W. Chanler (D) New York, Brutus J. Clay (Unionist) Kentucky, Samuel S. Cox (D) Ohio, James A. Cravens (D) Indiana, John L. Dawson (D) Pennsylvania, Charles Denison (D) Pennsylvania, John R. Eden (D) Illinois, Joseph K. Edgerton (D) Indiana, Charles A. Eldridge (D) Wisconsin, William E. Finck (D) Ohio, Henry Grider (U) Kentucky, William A. Hall (U) Missouri, Aaron Harding (U) Kentucky, Henry W. Harrington (D) Indiana, Benjamin G. Harris (D) Maryland, Charles M. Harris (D) Illinois, William S. Holman (D) Indiana, Philip Johnson (D) Pennsylvania, William Johnston (D) Ohio, Martin Kalbfleisch (D) New York, Francis Kernan (D) New York, Anthony L. Knapp (D) Illinois, John Law (D) Indiana, Alexander Long (D) Ohio, Robert Mallory (U) Kentucky, William H. Miller (D) Pennsylvania, James R. Morris (D) Ohio, William R. Morrison (D) Illinois, Warren P. Noble (D) Ohio, John O'Neill (D) Ohio, George H. Pendleton (D) Ohio, Nehemiah Perry (D) New Jersey, John V.L. Pruyn (D) New York, Samuel J. Randall (D) Pennsylvania, James C. Robinson (D) Illinois, Lewis W. Ross (D) Illinois, John G. Scott (D) Missouri, William G. Steele (D) New Jersey, John D. Stiles (D) Pennsylvania, Myer Strouse (D) Pennsylvania, John T. Stuart (D) Illinois, Lorzeno D.M. Sweat (D) Maine, Dwight Townsend (D) New York, William H. Wadsworth (U) Kentucky, Elijah Ward (D) New York, Chilton A. White (D) Ohio, Joseph W. White (D) Ohio, Charles H. Winfield (D) New York, Benjamin Wood (D) New York, and Fernando Wood (D) New York.
Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski wanted a very restrained visual look for the film, with naturalistic lighting and a very few crane or dolly shots. Lincoln's eyes are often kept in the shadows, especially in wide shots.
Harrison Ford was rumored to appear in the film in a role as Vice President Andrew Johnson at one point during the development of the film, but the rumor has since become completely unsubstantiated after all the delays and turnarounds on the film's development over the years. Ultimately, there is no mention nor sign of Johnson's character in the final version of the film, with the possible exception of the inauguration scene.
David Strathairn (playing William Seward) previously played Abraham Lincoln in the LA Theatre Works 2008 production of Norman Corwin's The Rivalry, which dramatized the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gulliver McGrath, who play Abraham Lincoln's sons Robert Lincoln and Tad, have both played the Dark Shadows (1966) character David Collins. Levitt in the Dark Shadows (1991) revival and McGrath in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows (2012).
The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sally Field; and five Oscar nominees: David Strathairn, John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, Jackie Earle Haley, and Adam Driver.
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 (2002).
This is one of two film properties wherein Lee Pace plays the antagonist of a character named Bilbo. Here, Pace plays Fernando Wood, a Congressional opponent of William N. Bilbo. In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, Pace plays the Elven King Thranduil, who gets at cross-purposes with Bilbo Baggins.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
The second film directed by Steven Spielberg where an American president is portrayed by a British actor; in Amistad (1997), Martin Van Buren and John Quincy Adams are portrayed by Nigel Hawthorne and Anthony Hopkins, respectively. Day-Lewis appeared with Hawthorne in Gandhi (1982) and Hopkins in The Bounty (1984).
The memoirs of General Una piccola fortuna (2007) were later published by Mark Twain, whom Hal Holbrook has played on numerous occasions.
History buffs have frequently pointed out parallels between the lives (and deaths) of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The two men were elected to the Presidency 100 years apart (1860, 1960). Lincoln took it upon himself to end slavery, while Kennedy's time in office was marked by the Civil Rights Movement. Both men had southern Vice Presidents named Johnson. Lincoln was shot at the Ford's Theatre by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. Kennedy was riding in a Ford Lincoln Mercury when he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who hid out in a movie theatre. This film adds three more similarities to the mix: it was produced by Kathleen Kennedy, features Tommy Lee Jones, who also appeared in JFK (1991), and both movies were scored by John Williams. Daniel Day-Lewis appeared in Gandhi (1982) with Martin Sheen, who played John F. Kennedy in Kennedy (1983). Sally Field played Sheen's wife in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). JFK's actual sister Jean Kennedy Smith appears in cameo as "House of Representatives - Woman Shouter".
This is Tommy Lee Jones's third Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The first was for JFK (1991), which, like this film, concerned a United States President who was assassinated. The second was for The Fugitive (1993), which starred Harrison Ford. This film features Adam Driver, who plays Ford's son in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).
Jeremy Strong (John Nicolay) previously worked as a personal assistant to Daniel Day-Lewis (Abraham Lincoln) in 2003, during the production of the film, "The Ballad of Jack and Rose". The two became good friends after Day-Lewis wrote a personal note to Strong.
Tad Lincoln is shown to have a great interest in the glass photographic plates of slaves. During the Civil War thousands upon thousands of photos were taken that documented all aspects of the war and such related issues as slavery. When the war was over massive numbers of glass negatives remained. Rather than recognizing their immense historical importance, they were either thrown out or sold for other purposes. One of their most common uses was for the roofs and walls of greenhouses, where the images were quickly destroyed by sunlight.
Bruce McGill also played a Cabinet member in W. (2008). That film also featured Colin Hanks, who is descended from the family of Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. Also appearing was James Cromwell, whose father John Cromwell directed Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).
The two Presidents of the United States depicted, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S Grant, are played by London-born actors who both happen to be the sons of Irishmen. Daniel Day-Lewis is the son of UK Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis (born in County Laoise) and Jared Harris is the son of Richard Harris (born in Limerick).
The film debuted in the same year as another movie about another former American president, which was Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), about U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
One of three films starring both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas. They also appear in Brick (2005) and Inception (2010). However, they don't share scenes in Lincoln (2012).
Elizabeth Marvel, who plays Mrs. Jolly from Jefferson City, Missouri, later played a fictional US President in Homeland (2011).
Reunites three actors from the cast of And the Band Played On (1993): Stephen Spinella, Peter McRobbie, and Dakin Matthews.
In the Italian version, Daniel Day-Lewis was dubbed by Pierfrancesco Favino.
The film cast includes many actors who had roles in Oliver Stone's movies: Tommy Lee Jones, who appeared in JFK (1991), Heaven & Earth (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994), which also has Jared Harris as part of the cast; Bruce McGill in W. (2008); Hal Holbrook and James Spader, who appeared in Wall Street (1987); and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who stars in Snowden (2016).
Stephen Spinella (Asa Vintner Litton) was also in the original Broadway cast of Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner's 1993 play "Angels in America" (playing a character named Prior Walter). Kushner has Prior mention Steven Spielberg in that play: after an angel has dramatically appeared to Prior by crashing through his ceiling, his next line of dialogue is, "God almighty...very Steven Spielberg!"
Steven Spielberg expressed interest in Remo Vinzens playing the part of the revolutionary leader in the film.
The character of Robert E. Lee makes only a brief appearance, with no lines. The role was previously played by Martin Sheen in Gettysburg (1993), who worked with Steven Spielberg in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Daniel Day-Lewis in Gandhi (1982), Sally Field in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and Hal Holbrook and James Spader in Wall Street (1987). Sheen was later replaced in Gods and Generals (2003) by Robert Duvall, who is a cousin to cast member Wayne Duvall and a close friend of Tommy Lee Jones, having appeared with him in Lonesome Dove (1989).
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, on whose work this film was largely based, is best known as an on-screen authority in the Ken Burns documentary series Baseball (1994), which was a sport that gained prominence during the time of Abraham Lincoln.
Bilbo jokes about Lincoln's face on a fifty cent piece. In 1918, in observance of the 100th anniversary of its statehood, Illinois struck a commemorative fifty cent piece that bore the image of Lincoln.
The battle of Fort Fisher caused a great deal of casualties for both sides; the Union Army and Navy suffered 199 killed, 811 wounded, and 47 missing. Confederate casualties were also heavy; 583 of the garrison killed or wounded, and the remainder, around 2,000 men, surrendered. What also added to the woes happened the following day. Someone set off the fort's massive powder magazine, killing an additional 200 Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners. Both sides blamed the other for the explosion. An investigation found that the explosion was not deliberate but the act of an unknown person through an act of carelessness with a lantern.
Following President Lincoln's death, the family fractured. Their son, Tad, died at the age of 18 in 1871 while in Chicago, Illinois. He died from unknown natural causes. Mary Todd Lincoln inherited a large amount of money after the President's death, but she soon lost it all. She was forced to sell her personal property. Then she fell in with spirits and seances. Her behavior was erratic. This caused Robert to committed his mother to an insane asylum for several months. Public outcry caused her release. Robert did not see his mother again until shortly before her death, caused by a stroke, on July 15, 1882. Robert, lived the longest, until 1926. Where he died in his sleep.
This being Sally Field's first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, she was astonished to discover that he doesn't rehearse his actors.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brenda Fricker have worked with Daniel Day-Lewis; Brenda in My Left Foot (1989), and Joseph in Lincoln.
The characters of Abraham Lincoln and his son Robert Lincoln previously appeared in The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998), in which they were played by Lance Henriksen and Wil Wheaton. Henriksen appeared in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and later played an android in Aliens (1986). Also in 2012, Lee Pace appeared in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), in which the title role had previously been played by Ian Holm, who played an android in the original Alien (1979). Wil Wheaton is best known for his role on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), while Joseph Gordon-Levitt appeared in Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017).
Daniel Day-Lewis is the seventh and, as of 2018, last actor from Gandhi (1982) to appear in a film for Steven Spielberg. Ben Kingsley appeared in Schindler's List (1993), Roshan Seth and Amrish Puri appeared in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Martin Sheen in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Nigel Hawthorne in Amistad (1997), and Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park (1993).
The actors who portrayed Lincoln's sons Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Tad (Gulliver McGrath) portrayed David Collins in Dark Shadows (1991) and Dark Shadows (2012) respectively.
The first film directed by Steven Spielberg since Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 35 years earlier to not be released during either the summer or Christmas season movie months when almost all of his movies are usually released. Like this film Close Encounters was also released in the month of November right before the major holiday movie season begins.
Thaddeus Stevens (R - PA) intimidates and demeans fellow Pennsylvania Representative Alexander Coffroth (D - PA) by mockingly calling Coffroth "cough drop". Per the Johns Hopkins archives, an early form of the modern cough drop was made in 1847. However, the more modern menthol cough drop that gained popularity was not discovered until 1866; one year after their confrontation. Cf: The Johns Hopkins Newsletter, March 8, 2018.
In Lincoln, Daniel-Day Lewis and David Warshofsky and share a scene together. They had appeared together previously in There Will Be Blood. Warshofsky played H.M. Tilford.
This marks Tommy Lee Jones's first time being directed by Steven Spielberg. Jones had starred (alongside Will Smith) in the original Men In Black trilogy, executive produced by Spielberg.
Director Trademark
Steven Spielberg: [music] John Williams score.
Steven Spielberg: [father] Lincoln angrily tells his son Bob not to join the army.
Steven Spielberg: [Lincoln] Abraham Lincoln themes have appeared in many Spielberg films. The "Bixby Letter" was an indirect plot device in Saving Private Ryan (1998). The "Gettysburg Address" is recited by a schoolboy in the opening scene of Minority Report (2002).
Spoilers
Toward the end of the film, Thaddeus Stevens and his Black housekeeper Lydia Hamilton Smith are portrayed as romantic partners. Although there is no officially documented evidence in real life that the two had anything more than an employer/employee relationship, the two were the object of much speculation and rumor during and after their many decades of cohabitation. Some unusual aspects of their living arrangements that contributed to the contemporary rumor that they were romantically involved included the facts that she moved from separate servants' quarters behind the house into Stevens's main house; she frequently served as the hostess for events held at his house; and several of his family members referred to her in terms usually reserved for spouses in their correspondence. Stevens provided generously for Smith in his will, to the extent that after receiving the inheritance he left her, she was able to buy his house. Stevens and Smith were also depicted as lovers in the 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation (1915), although contrary to this film's reasons for the inclusion of a romantic relationship between them, that movie's director, D.W. Griffith, used their relationship as racist propaganda and as supposed "proof" of the North's degeneracy.
