Pics and Justin Long for Redford’s Conspirator

Published by Jeff Leins on: October 16th, 2009

Robert Redford has assembled quite the cast for his Lincoln drama The Conspirator, a historical look at the year following the President’s assassination and the trial of Mary Surratt in connection with the conspiracy.

Robin Wright Penn will play Surratt and James McAvoy is Col. Frederick Aiken, a war hero attorney who defends her to the public. Tom Wilkinson has also been added as Reverdy Johnson, a U.S. Senator is “the mentor to the young lawyer,” according to Variety. Plus Evan Rachel Wood is set as Anna (Surratt’s daughter), Kevin Kline is Lincoln’s War Secretary Edwin Stanton, and Alexis Bledel is Aiken’s wife Catherine. Toby Kebbell is John Wilkes Booth.

Justin Long has also joined the team, which is a big step up for the guy known for the Mac ads, voicing one of the Chipmunks, and bit comedy roles. That isn’t to say he isn’t a good actor, it’s just an intriguing choice for a Redford film and a period drama. Long plays a soldier who lost an arm in the Civil War and a friend of Aiken.

Looking at the cast, there’s plenty of potential for a memorable movie, but the same could be said of Redford’s last film, Lions for Lambs, with Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and more. The highly political piece was a disaster in every sense.

The movie is shooting in Savannah, Georgia this month and there are already set photos floating around, courtesy of The Playlist. Here is your first look at McAvoy and Wood in costume: