Spielberg’s Lincoln Lives, Redford’s Adds Two

Published by Jeff Leins on: September 20th, 2009

Steven Spielberg insists his biopic of Abraham Lincoln is not finished even as Robert Redford gears up his film about the presidential assassination conspiracy.

Spielberg has been trying to bring his Honest Abe film to the screen since 2001, even casting Liam Neeson in the lead about four years ago.  The biopic was intended to focus on the President’s handling of the Civil War and end with a John Wilkes Booth bullet, but it was sidelined by budget and location problems and Spielberg has moved on to several other projects.

The prolific filmmaker is currently working on a remake of Harvey and eying Robert Downey Jr. for the lead (Elwood P. Dowd, originally played by Jimmy Stewart).

Meanwhile, James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn have joined The Conspirator, a period drama focused on the aftermath of Lincoln’s death.  The production starts shooting next month, so it will clearly be ready ahead of Spielberg’s film.  Penn is set to star as Mary Surratt, a woman charged with conspiring on the assassination.  McAvoy will play Frederick Aiken, a war hero convinced of Surratt’s innocence.  Redford is going the independent financing route this time, so hopefully it won’t be as boring as his last film.

Spielberg stresses the two projects are different though they’ll both depict the Ford’s Theatre assassination.  He told Variety, “It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be, and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible.”

Redford’s will probably bow sometime in 2010 and Spielberg’s won’t be out for years, if ever.  They may deal with similar subject matter, but Redford tooling around with the Surratt trial isn’t going to stop Spielberg’s sprawling Civil War drama.