Spring 2011 Civil War Film News
Sally Field has been cast as Mary Todd Lincoln in director Stephen Spielberg’s upcoming biographic film about Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War presidency. Daniel Day-Lewis will portray Lincoln in the film, which is based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The film is to be released in the fourth quarter of 2012. Day-Lewis is known for his thorough research of his characters and great intensity in his acting. It will be interesting to see his portrayal of Lincoln.
The announcement of Field’s casting comes at the same time another Lincoln related film opened in theaters. Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” opened on April 15th. The film explores the case of Mary Surratt and her role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Two “Director’s Cut” extended versions of previously released movies will be available on May 24th.
Gods and Generals, staring Jeff Daniels, Robert Duvall, and Stephen Lang will incorporate an hour more of footage than previous versions had. The Battle of Antietam and a subplot involving John Wilkes Booth that were left off the original theatrical release have been added back in. Gods and Generals is the prequel to another Director’s Cut also available on May 24th.
Gettysburg, the film based on Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize winning book The Killer Angels, will be released with 17 minutes of footage added to it. As of this writing, both of these are being released in Blu Ray format only on May 24th; no word on when or if they’ll be released in DVD format.
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