Lincoln FILM Discussion Thread

[Koray Savas 2,251]

That's quite a shallow grave

oops, make it ten, then?

Six feet under is the term.

[Joe Brausam 214]

Since the 90's I personally think Williams has done some of his best work on dramatic films compared to his action & adventure scores.

I think his evolution as a composer has suited dramatic material much better.

I agree, that's why I look forward to a score like this more than one like Tin-Tin.

[Jarbas 1]

Since the 90's I personally think Williams has done some of his best work on dramatic films compared to his action & adventure scores.

I think his evolution as a composer has suited dramatic material much better.

I agree, that's why I look forward to a score like this more than one like Tin-Tin.

Me too... but before I want to hear War Horse.

[King Mark 3,631]

Nope,, I disagree

Tintin will be the best of his new scores

[mrbellamy 6,286]

Seems like a good casting choice. I'd forgotten about Liam Neeson dropping out, though. I'm sure Daniel Day-Lewis will do fine, but Neeson would have sooo looked the part, and he can convey a certain air of maturity that I think would have fit the part very well. Oh well. As long as we still get a Williams score out of it!

I actually think DDL suits the look better than Neeson. The eyebrows are a little thicker, the face is more gaunt, hair's darker. I think the main thing Neeson had going for him was that he's taller, but DDL isn't short, by any means.

It's cruel that Williams went into quasi-retirement right as my fandom was started really kicking into gear. I mean, it'd been years since I first started enjoying the Star Wars LP, and he'd firmly established himself as my favorite composer, but my appreciation for his work was limited in scope and depth. Still is, I'm sure, but not as much as it used to be.

Yeah, I started really getting into Williams circa 2001 with HP1, so I was incredibly spoiled as a new fan for a little while there. Having to make do with one score, a horn concerto release, and some political works since 2005 has been a killer

Since the 90's I personally think Williams has done some of his best work on dramatic films compared to his action & adventure scores.

I think his evolution as a composer has suited dramatic material much better.

. I am looking forward to Tin Tin, but I have a feeling that for myself, War Horse will be the better score.

[Jarbas 1]

It will be amazing if Williams include Perlman and Ma into the Lincoln score beyond the trumpet solos by Tim Morrison. Try to watch the opening of Saving Private Ryan with the introduction of "Air and Simple Gifts", it's very impressive.

[Incanus 5,714]

It will be amazing if Williams include Perlman and Ma into the Lincoln score beyond the trumpet solos by Tim Morrison. Try to watch the opening of Saving Private Ryan with the introduction of "Air and Simple Gifts", it's very impressive.

I also think something in the vein of Air and Simple Gifts would probably fit a film about Lincoln very well.

[Brónach 1,302]

I'd prefer JW to say goodbye to film music world with something different than Lincoln. Oh well.

[Henry B 50]

"Air and Simple Gifts" is a really beautifully written and performed piece, but I just don't know if it has anything to say. I'm hoping Spielberg will provide something more interesting for Williams to work with than the usual vague reverence for the American tradition... something something democratic process.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

What does that have to do with Lincoln?

[Wojo 2,453]

President Lincoln, indeed! No doubt to be followed by Louis of France and Robert the Bruce!

[Henry B 50]

What does that have to do with Lincoln?

I'm saying that I hope the score won't be constricted to a stereotype of Williams' Americana style just because the film involves... America.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I want the score to have a dulcimer and a ukelele!

[Wojo 2,453]

And I want it to showcase the melodic sounds of splitting log rails and being shot at the theater.

[Incanus 5,714]

I want the music to sound like a hatchet felling cherry trees...

Oh wait wrong president. Williams should score a George Washington movie instead. I mean, think about the sound of those hatchets.

[Wojo 2,453]

He came close as he's going to get with The Patriot, which never showed General Washington in favor of a historically amalgamated main character. I don't see a market for more big screen Revolutionary War era productions.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

I don't know, something in the vein of "The Last Battle" wouldn't bother me at all...

[indy4 155]

Excellent! More Williams scores to look forward to!

[TownerFan 4,983]

While it will be inevitable that the score for such a film will feature some traditional Americana writing, the style of Williams' score depends on how Spielberg will tackle the subject and what kind of movie he's envisioning, so it's a bit premature to make educate guesses. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the result will be something along the lines of Amistad.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

That would be bad. The only interesting parts of that score were the non-american style cues

[Matt C 454]

Looks like Lincoln will be Spielberg's next film after War Horse and Tintin. According to an AP article, the film's gearing up to shoot on location in Virginia (such as Richmond and Petersburg) in the fall.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=77194

Not sure about Kushner scripting -- I mean, he's a fine writer but his scripts need tightening. Munich was too long, as well as Kushner's Angels in America. I'm not sure if I want a three-hour Lincoln film.

[Jay 37,355]

If a film is too long it's not the writer's fault. The director is in charge of shaping the final cut with the footage he shot

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Not necessarily. You can always cut out scenes in post, but the overall structure of a film is developed in the screenplay. Not to mention the editor is responsible for a good part of it, it being the final length.

[Jay 37,355]

Yes but the editor works under the direct instruction of the director

[Matt C 454]

Yes but the editor works under the direct instruction of the director

It varies with different directors. Sometimes a director micromanages every shot the editor uses (like David Fincher and Peter Jackson), while some directors trust their editors enough to let them do the work without heavy scrutiny. Michael Kahn has a 40 year relationship with Spielberg (with all the films they worked on), and Kahn is likely in the second category.

But the initial shooting screenplay is what the director and editor have to work with. If it's a long script that could use tightening (a la Munich), then it's the director and editor's job to find the heart of the story. Strip out all that fat the writer left in... and Munich had a lot of it. Telling Kushner to deliver a 95-100 page script is like telling a person to stop breathing -- he simply can't do it.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

More casting news!

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/joseph-gordon-levitt-tommy-lee-jones-and-many-many-more-negotiations-steven-spielbergs--0

[King Mark 3,631]

this is gonna be a boring Williams score

I predict it'll be a dust collector like Rosewood and SPR

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Always the optimist!

[Romão 2,274]

this is gonna be a boring Williams score

I predict it'll be a dust collector like Rosewood and SPR

I'd be absolutely delighted if we got a score of the caliber of those two

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'd be more than delighted. I've said it countless times before, and now again! ... This film is JW's last shot at an Oscar. Well, depending how long he goes on and how frequently he composes.

[Matt C 454]

Looks like Spielberg wants to get this film started by late summer, rather than fall. He's got an impressive number of actors in this film.

I have to commend Joseph Gordon-Levitt's agent. Two films with Christopher Nolan within two years, then a Spielberg film after that. Next thing I expect Martin Scorcese to snag him up for his next project.

[Red 75]

Yeah, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is really fashioning quite the career for himself.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Which is great, I've been a fan ever since he was on 3rd Rock From The Sun.

[soundwave 0]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50276

Check out this article about James Spader joining The Office. The interesting thing about it is in the press release. As it goes through Spader's credits, it lists that he will be filming Lincoln by Steven Spielberg later this year as he works on the Office. I was aware that project had kind of gone into a holding pattern, but this seems encouraging seeing as how this is the one project he had been talking about that I'm really looking forward to (besides Indy 5, don't kill me).

If this is old news, oops.

[Demondm810 399]

Spader in Lincoln?! as who?

[Quintus 5,399]

I lost all interest in this after Neeson walked away.

[crocodile 8,012]

Daniel Day-Lewis is not good enough for you?

Super 8

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

I'm not a fan of Day-Lewis and his ACTING.

[crocodile 8,012]

It might actually add some spiece to a bit-too-mundane modern Spielberg. I think this is an inspired choice, even if I don't quite see it.

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

I'm sure everyone is chuffed with Oscar winning Day-Lewis, just not me.

I'm not bothered either way though really. American history has been done to death and I don't find it particularly interesting anyway.

[soundwave 0]

As a Lincoln nut, I'm really looking forward to it, especially being done by Spielberg. Sally Field as Mary Todd is perfect casting. Neeson was perfect, but I'll take Lewis.

[Demondm810 399]

As a Lincoln nut, I'm really looking forward to it, especially being done by Spielberg. Sally Field as Mary Todd is perfect casting. Neeson was perfect, but I'll take Lewis.

Mary Todd was an annoying bitch?

[Matt C 454]

Huh. Doris Goodwin, the author of Team of Rivals (which Kushner adapted for Lincoln), will be the guest speaker for my alma mater's 175th anniversary. She's scheduled to appear Thursday, Oct. 13 at the King Center Gym.

http://www.ehc.edu/emorynews/175th-anniversary-keynote-speaker-doris-kearns-goodwin

I just have a strange feeling someone from the production will make an unscheduled appearance. The film is being shot in the fall in Virginia (where my college is), my school has a history dating back before the Civil War, and her appearance timing lines up with the production schedule. It's unlikely Spielberg will make an appearance, but one can dream.

[Jay 37,355]

Pretty cool!

[Wojo 2,453]

Sally Field as Mary Todd is perfect casting.

Mary Todd was an annoying bitch?

I can see it now. When Honest Abe drops to one knee with the ring and the question, she proclaims "You like me! You really like me!"

[Matt C 454]

I got two tickets for that Doris Goodwin event, and an e-mail to the person in charge of the events says she's coming solo. She did say if Spielberg did make an unscheduled appearance, "we'd ALL be surprised and excited!"

Should be fun either way. I'll keep a sharp eye out in case Spielberg's less prominent friends like Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall come. Or someone less prominent like Tony Kushner, a lot of the theater department loves his work.

[nightscape94 965]

I'm really looking forward to this movie. The character of Lincoln could have great music thematic motivation. Williams would most definitely want to knock that out of the park.

[Jay 37,355]

Looks like Lincoln is really and truly happening and Spielberg's next film!

Steven Spielberg has been talking about/promising to make a movie about Abraham Lincoln for years. And for years, he had Liam Neeson, his “Schindler’s List” star, on board to play the president.

Now, he’s packing his bags for Virginia — Richmond and environs — to shoot “Lincoln,” which is based on a recent best seller by one of America’s most popular historians. He will own this holiday season, thanks to the big screen versions of “War Horse” and “Tintin,” the two movies America’s most successful movie maker ever has due out around Christmas

He is shooting “Lincoln” in Richmond because “a lot of the buildings there, government buildings, look like Washington looked back during the Civil War.”

His “Lincoln” is “not a battlefield movie,” Spielberg says. “There are battles in it, and being in Virginia, we have access to those historic battlefields. It is really a movie about the great work Abraham Lincoln did in the last months of his life.

“We’re basing it on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, ‘Team of Rivals,’ but we’re only focusing in on the last four months of Abraham Lincoln’s life.

“The movie will be purposely coming out AFTER next year’s election. I didn’t want it to become political fodder.”

Full article: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2011/09/exclusive-spielberg-on-3d-lincoln-new-universal-rides-and-39-clues.html

[Jay 37,355]

Jackie Earle Haley joins the cast

http://www.slashfilm.com/jackie-earle-haley-joins-spielbergs-lincoln/

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He'd make a good Booth.