Lincoln (film)

Lincoln
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Produced by	Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy
Screenplay by	Tony Kushner
Based on	Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Starring	Daniel Day-Lewis Sally Field David Strathairn Joseph Gordon-Levitt James Spader Hal Holbrook Tommy Lee Jones
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Janusz Kamiński
Editing by	Michael Kahn
Studio	Touchstone Pictures DreamWorks Studios Reliance Entertainment Participant Media Amblin Entertainment The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Domestic) 20th Century Fox (International)
Release date(s)	October 8, 2012 (New York Film Festival) November 9, 2012 (United States)^[1]
Running time	150 minutes^[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65 million^[3]
Box office	$275,293,450^[3]

Lincoln is a 2012 American epic historical drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.^[4] The film is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and covers the final four months of Lincoln's life, focusing on the President's efforts in January 1865 to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives.

Filming began October 17, 2011,^[5] and ended on December 19, 2011.^[6] Lincoln premiered on October 8, 2012 at the New York Film Festival. The film was released theatrically on November 9, 2012, in select cities and widely released on November 16, 2012, in the United States by DreamWorks through Disney's Touchstone Pictures distribution label.^[7] The film was released on January 25, 2013, in the United Kingdom, with distribution in international territories, including the U.K., by 20th Century Fox.^[8]

Lincoln received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise directed to Day-Lewis' performance. In December 2012, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for Spielberg and winning Best Actor (Motion Picture – Drama) for Day-Lewis. At the 85th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards including Best Picture; it won for Best Production Design and Best Actor for Day-Lewis.^[9] The film was also a commercial success, having grossed more than $275 million at the box office.^[3]

Plot

Lincoln recounts President Abraham Lincoln's efforts, during January 1865, to obtain passage for the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the United States House of Representatives, which would formally abolish slavery in the country.

Expecting the Civil War to end within a month but concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation may be discarded by the courts once the war has concluded and the 13th Amendment defeated by the returning slave states, Lincoln feels it is imperative to pass the amendment by the end of January, thus removing any possibility that slaves who have already been freed may be re-enslaved. The Radical Republicans fear the amendment will merely be defeated by some who wish to delay its passage; the support of the amendment by Republicans in the border states is not yet assured either, since they prioritize the issue of ending the war. Even if all of them are ultimately brought on board, the amendment will still require the support of several Democratic congressmen if it is to pass. With dozens of Democrats having just become lame ducks after losing their re-election campaigns in the fall of 1864, some of Lincoln's advisors believe that he should wait until the new Republican-heavy Congress is seated, presumably giving the amendment an easier road to passage. Lincoln, however, remains adamant about having the amendment in place and the issue of slavery settled before the war is concluded and the southern states readmitted into the Union.

Lincoln's hopes for passage of the amendment rely upon the support of the Republican Party founder Francis Preston Blair, the only one whose influence can ensure that all members of the western and border state conservative Republican faction will back the amendment. With Union victory in the Civil War seeming highly likely and greatly anticipated, but not yet a fully accomplished fact, Blair is keen to end the hostilities as soon as possible. Therefore, in return for his support, Blair insists that Lincoln allow him to immediately engage the Confederate government in peace negotiations. This is a complication to Lincoln's amendment efforts since he knows that a significant portion of the support he has garnered for the amendment is from the Radical Republican faction for whom a negotiated peace that leaves slavery intact is morally unacceptable. If there seems to be a realistic possibility of ending the war even without guaranteeing the end of slavery, the needed support for the amendment from the more conservative wing (which does not favor abolition) will certainly fall away. Unable to proceed without Blair's support, however, Lincoln reluctantly authorizes Blair's mission.

In the meantime, Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward work on the issue of securing the necessary Democratic votes for the amendment. Lincoln suggests that they concentrate on the lame duck Democrats, as they have already lost re-election and thus will feel free to vote as they please, rather than having to worry about how their vote will affect a future re-election campaign. Since those members also will soon be in need of employment and Lincoln will have many federal jobs to fill as he begins his second term, he sees this as a tool he can use to his advantage. Though Lincoln and Seward are unwilling to offer direct monetary bribes to the Democrats, they authorize agents to quietly go about contacting Democratic congressmen with offers of federal jobs in exchange for their voting in favor of the amendment.

With Confederate envoys ready to meet with Lincoln, he instructs them to be kept out of Washington, as the amendment approaches a vote on the House floor. At the moment of truth, Thaddeus Stevens decides to moderate his statements about racial equality to help the amendment's chances of passage. A rumor circulates that there are Confederate representatives in Washington ready to discuss peace, prompting both Democrats and conservative Republicans to advocate postponing the vote on the amendment. Lincoln explicitly denies that such envoys are in or will be in the city — technically a truthful statement, since he had ordered them to be kept away — and the vote proceeds, narrowly passing by a margin of two votes. When Lincoln subsequently meets with the Confederates, he tells them that slavery cannot be restored as the North is united for ratification of the amendment, and that several of the southern states' reconstructed legislatures would also vote to ratify.

After the amendment's passage, the film's narrative shifts forward two months, portraying Lincoln's visit to the battlefield at Petersburg, Virginia, where he exchanges a few words with General Grant. Shortly thereafter, Grant receives General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

On the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln is in a meeting with members of his cabinet, discussing possible future measures to enfranchise blacks, when he is reminded that Mrs. Lincoln is waiting to take them to their evening at Ford's Theatre.

That night, while Tad Lincoln is viewing Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp at Grover's Theater, a man announces that the President has been shot. The next morning his physician pronounces him dead. The film concludes with a flashback to Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address.

Cast

Lincoln household

Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln^[10]

Producer Kathleen Kennedy described Day-Lewis's performance as "remarkable" after 75% of the filming had been completed, and said, "Every day you get the chills thinking that Lincoln is sitting there right in front of you." Kennedy described Day-Lewis's method acting immersion into the role: "He is very much deeply invested and immersed throughout the day when he's in character, but he's very accessible at the end of the day, once he can step outside of it and not feel that – I mean, he's given huge scenes with massive amounts of dialogue and he needs to stay in character, it's a very, very performance-driven movie."^[11] His performance as Abraham Lincoln earned him his third Academy Award for Best Actor.

Sally Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln^[12]

Field was first announced to join the cast as early as September 2007, but officially joined the cast in April 2011.^[13] Field said, "To have the opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis and to play one of the most complicated and colorful women in American history is simply as good as it gets."^[14] Spielberg said, "she has always been my first choice to portray all the fragility and complexity that was Mary Todd Lincoln".^[15] Her performance as Mary Todd Lincoln earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Gloria Reuben^[16] as Elizabeth Keckley

Keckley was a former slave who was dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln^[17]

Robert Lincoln had recently left his studies at Harvard Law School and was newly named a Union Army captain and personal attendant to General Grant. He returned to the White House on April 14, 1865 to visit his family. His father was assassinated that night.^[18]

Gulliver McGrath as Tad Lincoln^[19]
Stephen Henderson as Lincoln's valet William Slade^[20]
Elizabeth Marvel as Mrs. Jolly^[20]

White House

David Strathairn as Secretary of State William H. Seward^[21]
Bruce McGill as Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton^[22]
Joseph Cross as Major John Hay, Lincoln's military secretary
Jeremy Strong as John George Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary^[20]^[23]
Grainger Hines as Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles^[24]
Richard Topol as Attorney General James Speed^[20]
Dakin Matthews as Secretary of the Interior John Palmer Usher^[20]^[23]
Walt Smith as Secretary of the Treasury William P. Fessenden^[24]
James Ike Eichling as Postmaster General William Dennison^[24]

House of Representatives

Tommy Lee Jones as Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania.^[17]

A leader of the Radical Republicans and a fervent abolitionist, Stevens feared that Lincoln would "turn his back on emancipation."^[18] Jones' performance as Stevens earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Lee Pace as Democratic Congressman and fiery orator Fernando Wood of New York
Peter McRobbie as Democratic Congressman George H. Pendleton of Ohio, leader of the Democratic opposition
Bill Raymond as Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, a Republican
David Costabile as Republican Congressman James Ashley of Ohio^[23]
Stephen Spinella as radical Republican Congressman Asa Vintner Litton^[20]
Michael Stuhlbarg as Democratic Congressman George Yeaman of Kentucky^[20]
Boris McGiver as Democratic Congressman Alexander Coffroth of Pennsylvania^[23]
Walton Goggins as Democratic Congressman Clay Hawkins of Ohio.^[25] A composite character based on the 16 Democrats who broke with their party to cast decisive votes in favor of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery.^[26]
David Warshofsky as Congressman William Hutton, whose brother died in the war^[23]
Michael Stanton Kennedy as Republican Congressman Hiram Price of Iowa
Christopher Evan Welch as Clerk of the House Edward McPherson

Republican Party

Hal Holbrook as Francis Preston Blair^[23]

Blair was an influential Republican politician who tried to arrange a peace agreement between the Union and the Confederacy. Holbrook had previously portrayed Lincoln in the 1976 mini-series Carl Sandburg's Lincoln and in the 1980s North and South mini-series.^[20]

James Spader as Republican Party operative William N. Bilbo

Bilbo had been imprisoned but was freed by Lincoln, and then lobbied for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.^[16]

Tim Blake Nelson^[27] as lobbyist Richard Schell
John Hawkes as Republican operative^[23] Colonel Robert Latham
Byron Jennings^[23] as Conservative Republican Montgomery Blair, son of Francis Preston Blair^[20]
Julie White as Elizabeth Blair Lee: Lee was the daughter of Francis Preston Blair, and wrote hundreds of letters documenting events during the Civil War^[20]
S. Epatha Merkerson as Lydia Smith: Smith was Thaddeus Stevens's biracial housekeeper.^[20]
Wayne Duvall as Radical Republican Senator Benjamin "Bluff Ben" Wade
John Hutton as Senator Charles Sumner^[24]

Confederate States

Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate States Vice President Alexander H. Stephens^[28]

Stephens had served with Lincoln in Congress from 1847 to 1849. He met with Abraham Lincoln on the steamboat River Queen at the unsuccessful Hampton Roads Conference on February 3, 1865

Gregory Itzin as John Archibald Campbell^[20]

Campbell was a former Supreme Court Justice who had resigned at the start of war and then served as Assistant Secretary of War in the Confederate government. He was also a member of the Confederate delegation that met with Lincoln at the Hampton Roads Conference.

Michael Shiflett as the third Confederate delegate to Hampton Roads, Senate President Robert M. T. Hunter
Christopher Boyer (non-speaking role) as Robert E. Lee

Union Army

Jared Harris as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant^[20]
Colman Domingo as Private Harold Green^[20]
David Oyelowo as Corporal Ira Clark^[29]
Lukas Haas as First White Soldier^[20]
Dane DeHaan as Second White Soldier^[20]
Adam Driver as Lincoln's telegraph operator, historically Grant's operator, Samuel Beckwith^[20]

Production

Development

While consulting on a Steven Spielberg project in 1999, Goodwin told Spielberg she was planning to write Team of Rivals, and Spielberg immediately told her he wanted the film rights.^[30] DreamWorks finalized the deal in 2001,^[31] and by the end of the year, John Logan signed on to write the script.^[32] His draft focused on Lincoln's friendship with Frederick Douglass.^[33] Playwright Paul Webb was hired to rewrite and filming was set to begin in January 2006,^[31] but Spielberg delayed it out of dissatisfaction with the script.^[34] Neeson said Webb's draft covered the entirety of Lincoln's term as President.^[35]

Casting

Liam Neeson was cast as Lincoln in January 2005, having previously worked with Spielberg in Schindler's List.^[31] In preparation for the role, Neeson studied Lincoln extensively.^[36] However, in July 2010, Neeson left the project, saying that he had grown too old for the part. Neeson was 58 at the time, and Lincoln, during the time period depicted, was 55 and 56.^[37] Co-star Sally Field, in a 2012 PBS interview, intimated that Neeson's decision was influenced by the loss of his wife less than a year earlier.^[38]^[39] In November 2010, it was announced that Day-Lewis would replace Neeson in the role.^[40]

Tony Kushner replaced Webb. Kushner considered Lincoln "the greatest democratic leader in the world" and found the writing assignment daunting because "I have no idea [what made him great]; I don't understand what he did any more than I understand how William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet or Mozart wrote Così fan tutte." He delivered his first draft late and felt the enormous amount written about Lincoln did not help either. Kushner said Lincoln's abolitionist ideals made him appealing to a Jewish writer, and although he felt Lincoln was Christian, he noted the president rarely quoted the New Testament and that his "thinking and his ethical deliberation seem very talmudic".^[41] By late 2008, Kushner joked he was on his "967,000th book about Abraham Lincoln".^[42] Kushner's initial 500-page draft focused on four months in the life of Lincoln, and by February 2009 he had rewritten it to focus on two months in Lincoln's life when he was preoccupied with adopting the Thirteenth Amendment.^[35]

Filming

While promoting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May 2008, Spielberg announced his intention to start filming in early 2009,^[43] for release in November, ten months after the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.^[30] In January 2009, Taunton and Dighton, Massachusetts were being scouted as potential locations.^[44] Spielberg arranged a $50 million budget for the film, to please Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey, who had previously delayed the project over concerns it was too similar to Spielberg's commercially unsuccessful Amistad (1997). Spielberg had wanted Touchstone Pictures – which agreed to distribute all his films from 2010 – to distribute the film, but he was unable to afford paying off Paramount, which had collaborated with DreamWorks on the film's development.^[45]

Filming took place in Petersburg, Virginia. According to location manager Colleen Gibbons, "one thing that attracted the filmmakers to the city was the 180-degree vista of historic structures" which is "very rare".^[46] Lincoln toured Petersburg on April 3, 1865, the day after it fell to the Union Army. Scenes were also filmed in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Virginia Repertory Theatre's November Theatre which represented Grovers Theatre ^[47] and at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, which served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War.^[28]^[48] Abraham Lincoln visited the building on April 4, 1865, after Richmond fell to the Union Army.

On September 4, 2012, DreamWorks and Google Play announced on the film's Facebook page that they would release the trailer for the film during a Google+ hangout with Steven Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt on September 13, 2012 at 7pm EDT/4pm PDT.^[49] Then, on September 10, 2012, a teaser for the trailer was released.^[50]

Music

The soundtrack to Lincoln was released by Sony Classical on November 6, 2012 in the United States and was recorded by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Chorus.^[51]^[52]

Lincoln: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by John Williams
Released	November 6, 2012
Recorded	2012
Genre	Contemporary classical
Length	58:46
Label	Sony Classical
Producer	John Williams

All music composed by John Williams.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The People’s House"	3:43
2.	"The Purpose of the Amendment"	3:07
3.	"Getting Out the Vote"	2:49
4.	"The American Process"	3:57
5.	"The Blue and Grey"	3:00
6.	"With Malice Toward None"	1:51
7.	"Call to Muster and Battle Cry of Freedom"	2:17
8.	"The Southern Delegation and the Dream"	4:43
9.	"Father and Son"	1:42
10.	"The Race to the House"	2:42
11.	"Equality Under the Law"	3:12
12.	"Freedom's Call"	6:08
13.	"Elegy"	2:35
14.	"Remembering Willie"	1:51
15.	"Appomattox, April 9, 1865"	2:38
16.	"The Peterson House and Finale"	11:00
17.	"With Malice Toward None (Piano Solo)"	1:31
Total length:		58:46

Release

Marketing

Several companion books and ancillary literature were released in anticipation of the film, including A President for the Ages, Lincoln: A Cinematic and Historical Companion, Harold Holzer's How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America and Lincoln: A Spielberg Film – Discover the Story from Disney Publishing.^[53]

Home media

Lincoln was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download in North America on March 26, 2013 from Touchstone Home Entertainment.^[54] The film debuted at No. 1 in Blu-ray and DVD sales in its first week of release.^[55]

Disney Educational Productions donated DVD copies of the film and a teaching guide titled Stand Tall: Live Like Lincoln to more than 37,100 secondary schools in the United States, after Spielberg received letters from educators requesting to incorporate the film into their curriculum.^[56]^[57]^[58]

Reception

Box office

Lincoln earned $182,207,973 in North America from 2,293 theaters and $91,852,750 overseas for a total of $274,060,723, well exceeding its $65 million budget. The film had a limited opening in 11 theaters with $944,308 and an average of $85,846 per theater. It opened at the #15 rank, becoming the highest opening of a film with such a limited release. The film opened in 1,175 theaters with $21,049,406 and an average of $11,859 per theater.^[3] Due to the widespread success of Lincoln, Disney produced additional prints of the film to accommodate theater demand.^[59]

Critical response

Lincoln received worldwide critical acclaim. The film currently holds a 89% approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 242 reviews with an average rating of 8/10.^[60] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 86 (out of 100) based on 44 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim", thus making it Spielberg's highest rated film on the site since Saving Private Ryan.^[61]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 4 out of 4 stars and said, "The hallmark of the man, performed so powerfully by Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, is calm self-confidence, patience and a willingness to play politics in a realistic way."^[62] Glenn Kenny of MSN Movies gave it 5 out of 5 stars stating, "It's the most remarkable movie Steven Spielberg has made in quite a spell, and one of the things that makes it remarkable is how it fulfills those expectations by simultaneously ignoring and transcending them."^[63]

Colin Covert of the Star Tribune wrote, "Lincoln is one of those rare projects where a great director, a great actor and a great writer amplify one another's gifts. The team of Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis and Tony Kushner has brought forth a triumphant piece of historical journalism, a profound work of popular art and a rich examination of one of our darkest epochs."^[64] It was praised by Charlie McCollum of the San Jose Mercury News as "one of the finest historical dramas ever committed to film."^[65] Despite mostly positive reviews, Rex Reed of The New York Observer stated, "In all, there's too much material, too little revelation and almost nothing of Spielberg's reliable cinematic flair." However, the reviews have been unanimous in their praise of Day-Lewis's performance as Abraham Lincoln. A. O. Scott from The New York Times stated the film "is finally a movie about how difficult and costly it has been for the United States to recognize the full and equal humanity of black people" and concluded that the movie was "a rough and noble democratic masterpiece".^[66]

Scott also stated that Lincoln's concern about his wife's emotional instability and "the strains of a wartime presidency... produce a portrait that is intimate but also decorous, drawn with extraordinary sensitivity and insight and focused, above all, on Lincoln's character as a politician. This is, in other words, less a biopic than a political thriller, a civics lesson that is energetically staged and alive with moral energy."^[66]

Lebanese film critic Anis Tabet gave the film a positive review, giving it a 3.5/4 rating.^[67]

As reported in the Maariv newspaper, on February 3, 2013, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and his ministers discussed Spielberg's film, which several of them saw in Israeli cinemas. They debated whether the end of abolishing slavery justified the means used by Lincoln, and also compared Lincoln's predicament with their own complicated situation in the confused aftermath of the 2013 Israeli elections.^[68]

The review by The Daily Mail suggested: "The sad truth is that Spielberg and his writer Tony Kushner are offering a phoney, sanitised version of Lincoln."^[69] The Sagamore Online review was also critical: "A film based on historical events that lacks accuracy might still attract audiences on entertainment value alone. Unfortunately, director Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln has neither."^[70]

Historian response

Eric Foner (Columbia University), a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian of the period, claimed in a letter to The New York Times that the film "grossly exaggerates" its main points about the choices at stake in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.^[71] Kate Masur (Northwestern University) accuses the film of oversimplifying the role of blacks in abolition and dismissed the effort as "an opportunity squandered" in an op-ed for The New York Times.^[72] Harold Holzer, co-chair of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and author of more than 40 books, served as a consultant to the film and praised it, but also observed that there is "no shortage of small historical bloopers in the movie" in a piece for The Daily Beast.^[73] Barry Bradford, a member of the Organization of American Historians, offers an analysis of some of the finer historical points of the film's representation of clothing, relationships and appearance.^[74] Allen Guelzo (Gettysburg College), also writing for The Daily Beast, had some plot criticism, but disagreed with Holzer, arguing that, "The pains that have been taken in the name of historical authenticity in this movie are worth hailing just on their own terms".^[75] In a later interview with the World Socialist Web Site Guelzo claimed that "the film was 90 percent on the mark, which given the way Hollywood usually does history is saying something".^[76] David Stewart, independent historical author, writing for History News Network, described Spielberg's work as "reasonably solid history", and told readers of HNN to "go see it with a clear conscience".^[77] Lincoln biographer Ronald White also admired the film, though he noted a few mistakes and pointed out in an interview with NPR, "Is every word true? No."^[78] Historian Joshua M. Zeitz, writing in The Atlantic, noted some minor mistakes, but concluded "Lincoln is not a perfect film, but it is an important film".^[79] Following a screening during the film's opening weekend, the Minnesota Civil War Commemoration Task Force held a panel discussion in which Dr. David Woodard of Concordia University remarked, "I always look at these films to see if a regular person who wasn't a 'Lincoln nut' would want to read a book about it after they watched the movie. I get the impression that most people who are not history buffs will now want to read something about Lincoln."^[80]