Daniel Day-Lewis completely disappears into Abraham Lincoln and it's kind of crazy

We can provide just a tease, but you will definitely want to see this: Daniel Day-Lewis is playing Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, and the first official photo of him -- courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, where you can see the full picture -- has been released. Honestly, I don't know how Day-Lewis does this. Every time. He completely hands his whole entire body and soul over to other people, fictional and non-fictional, and brings them to life.

Lincoln, which is coming out November 9, will follow the country's beloved 16th president in the days leading up to his assassination. It's adapted from Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, which tells the story of how Lincoln stocked his cabinet with a bunch of guys who disagreed with him so he'd have a whole slew of perspectives on his presidential decisions. I know -- this sounds like science fiction and not historical fact, but it totally happened. If all of that isn't cool enough, the screenplay was written by Tony Kushner (Angels in America). So there is a very good chance that a historical movie about Abraham Lincoln that is written by Kushner, directed by Spielberg, and starring Day-Lewis will win some Oscars next year. In fact, maybe everyone else should just stay home.

Here's our first official look at Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln! [Ain't It Cool News]

• [hypnosifl]

  He looks amazing; it’ll be interesting to see what he does with the voice. As the article here discusses, his voice was said to be in the higher range for men, not the baritone favored by a lot of actors doing Lincoln.

  • [DrNobelDynamite]

    With all due respect, you’re mistaken.  Everyone knows that Abraham Lincoln had a pronounced Brooklyn accent, as this documentary re: his invention of the American flag demonstrates:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI0hvm10AHo

    • [Brainspore]

      I dunno, I actually think this documentary about the assassination was probably closer to historical fact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvkBvzpbBPs

• [Romeo Vitelli]

  Does he do any vampire hunting in this one?  

  • [allium]

     I’d settle for Jefferson Davis hunting.

• [Brainspore]

  Lincoln, which is coming out November 9, will follow the country’s beloved 16th president in the days leading up to his assassination.

  It should be noted that he was hardly universally loved prior to his assassination. The vitriol that Romney supporters have for Obama is relatively tame compared to how a large segment of the U.S. populace felt about Lincoln. All that changed with the assassin’s bullet.

  • [Funk Daddy]

    Those most horrible regarding Obama do not support Romney.

    But to your original point, I remember the movie “Gangs of New York” demonstrated justly that sentiment toward Lincoln, in one scene near the start.

    • [Brainspore]

      I think it would be fun to re-animate John Wilkes Booth just long enough to show him a U.S. penny, a five-dollar bill and a photo of the Lincoln Memorial—then say “all this is because of you.”

      • [Felton / Moderator]

         That’s in the next movie, Abraham Lincoln: Re-Animator.

      • [JJ]

        Don’t forget Mt. Rushmore

    • [Nathan Hornby]

      I’d forgotten about that film.  Deserves a re-watch, I remember enjoying it.

  • [Ladyfingers]

     Well, if you’d lost hundreds of thousands of men to conscription for a cause you almost certainly didn’t care about…

    • [Brainspore]

      I never suggested that all his contemporaries had good reason to love him.

• [thecardcheat]

  Remember when politicians made decisions for the good of the country.

  • [Manny]

    When was that?

    • [thecardcheat]

      Last Thursday..

  • [Brainspore]

    I just hope the film doesn’t over-simplify the man. Lincoln is certainly worthy of praise and remembrance, but he made a few morally questionable decisions as President too. Suspending the writ of habeus corpus in 1861, for example.

• [MrWoods]

  Four score and seven years ago, I drank your milkshake, I drank it up.

• [Jacob Goodpasture]

  Sadly, this isn’t an adaptation of Gore Vidal’s fantastic novel.

  Vidal insisted that DKG cribbed the idea for her book from his novel, which centered around the rivals in his war cabinet.

  • [Brainspore]

    Vidal insisted that DKG cribbed the idea for her book from his novel, which centered around the rivals in his war cabinet.

    True or not, no writer can claim ownership over historical fact.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      Pish. Anyone can claim anything.

  • [Timothy Krause]

    Vidal who claimed that the worst thing to happen to Lincoln, aside from Booth, was to be written about by Carl Sandburg, lol.

    • [RedShirt77]

       So….   Worst things that Happened to Abe:

      1.  Being assassinated
      2.  Written about by Carl Sandburg
      3. Civil war.
      4. Depressed crazy wife
      5. Vampires killed his mother.

      Makes sense.

      • [Brainspore]

        I’m sure “losing three children to illness” ranks somewhere on that list too.

        • [euansmith]

           Vampires

• [Jim Huinink]

  Anyone else expecting video?

• [Little]

  Wow, Oscar predictions based on a photo? Is this a Dreamworks press release?

  And you miss the fun fact that the awards season is in fact shaping up to be a “presidential contest” rivaling Obama vs. Romney, if the buzz is true — Lincoln vs. FDR! 

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park_on_Hudson

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Wow, Oscar predictions based on a photo?

    An unheard of idea!

    • [Little]

       Sorry, not getting you.

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        As soon as that picture of Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher was released, she (and possibly the film) were touted as the leading contenders for Oscars  even though the film wasn’t even filmed yet.

        • [Little]

          Ugh, Hollywood hype always finds ways to reach new depths — but I’ve come to expect more than hype and gushing from Boing Boing posts.

          At least the commenters are having fun with this subject.

      • [Cowicide]

        but I’ve come to expect more than hype and gushing from Boing Boing posts.

        I think there may be a bit more than just hype to this.  DDL tends to deliver:

        http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000358/awards

  • [penguinchris]

    You can at least guarantee a nomination for makeup/costumes/etc. Even if the film is terrible, the makeup and costume design on display here is amazing and lots of lackluster films over the years have gotten Oscars for things like that. 

    Plus, you know, you can count on any Spielberg film getting a handful of nominations no matter what, and considering who else is involved in this film it’s a very safe prediction that the nominations will quickly come rolling in.

• [johnyaya]

  I heard this movie didn’t focus test well so they had to change the ending.

  • [Mighty Blowhole]

    HA! So now, with Lee’s bullet-riddled corpse in the foreground, he + U.S. Grant ride off into the sunset with Jeff Davis’ head swinging from the pommel of the horse they’re sharing?

  • [chenille]

    I am not quite sure where this is originally from, but it seems appropriate.

  • [rtresco]

    Related to your comment, here is the best (read: worst) comment I’ve seen around this photo today, posted on another board:
    “Spoiler alert – someone gets shot in a theater. Are they going to have to delay this film like Gangster Squad? I’m not sure about this film. Every American should already know the history of Lincoln. Maybe seeing it on screen will do something for someone, but if you already know everything that occurs, it is hard to get excited about this (except maybe for Lewis’ performance). ”

    So there you have it – history movies and biopics are pretty much useless, per this individual. What’s the point when you know what’s going to happen? Boggles the mind that Titanic movie made any money back.

    • [flosofl]

      Are you certain your sarcasm detector is not broken (or maybe mine is and I missed your joke)

• [Jesse Turnbull]

  Here is an  image of the new DDL penny coming out in November:
  http://turnbot.blogspot.com/2012/08/daniel-day-lewis-penny.html

• [Cam Di Nunzio]

  Here in Richmond, VA (where a large part of this movie was filmed) got a glimpse of him several months back, and even just sitting in a local restaurant, he already looked to be living the part:   http://www2.richmond.com/entertainment/top-features/2011/nov/30/7/daniel-day-lewis-spotted-ar-1504500/

  • [franko]

    man, it’s so weird to see lincoln in a black turtleneck and blue jeans. it’s like he’s working for apple now.

    • [rtresco]

      Turtlenecks are the new deep V.

• [noahmckinnon]

  Seeing DDL as Lincoln would almost make me swallow the Spielbarf. As an aside, Gore Vidal’s Lincoln is a very enjoyable book.

• [Teller]

  With Babe Ruth in a wig as Mary Todd Lincoln.

• [Kevin Carson]

  “Completely disappears into Lincoln”? From the title I had visions of Ren Hoek climbing up into the Lincoln Memorial’s nose.

• [semiotix]

  LINCOLN: Emancipaaaaation! Emancipation, Jefferson, you boy. Emancipated dry. I’m so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that’s a straw, you see? You watching? And my straw reaches acroooooooss the Mason-Dixon line, and starts to drink your milkshake. I… drink… your… milkshake! I DRINK IT UP!

  JEFFERSON DAVIS: Don’t bully me, Lincoln! 

  LINCOLN: Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Jefferson? I am the Third Revelation! I am who the Lord has chosen!

• [Art]

  There’s nobody better than DDL :)

• [lafave]

  Goodwin overstates the case for the “team of rivals”  But it sounds good in theory.

• [thecardcheat]

  I heard Lincoln was an excellent wrestler, but would not have made a good boxer … (get ready for it)… he couldn’t take a shot to the head.

  • [Brainspore]

    Ugh. Too soon!

• [Mike Harris]

  He was my seventh cousin, five times removed.