It's easy to draw parallels to President Obama in Steven Spielberg’s historical Oscar hopeful Lincoln, a portrait of the 16th American President who stood tall, orated well, united a divided nation across color and party lines, and was re-elected to office for a second term. But Spielberg insists he had no specific political agenda in mind when the long-gestating Lincoln came to fruition.
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A bit high-pitched and shrill, the few audiences that have seen Lincoln ahead of its World Premiere next month at AFI Fest may have been surprised by the voice of America's 16th President as played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The two-time Oscar-winner made a rare public appearance speaking before a small audience presented by Time Magazine in New York Thursday. The actor, who appeared along with Steven Spielberg, spoke in his native British accent, which was in audible contrast to his latest on-screen character.
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Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park - Steven Spielberg has set the bar for the worldwide blockbuster. Sure, he's taken praise for other genre as well, including his Best Director win for Schindler's List (and another for Saving Private Ryan five years later). On the cusp of his Lincoln premiere for the closing night of the AFI Fest next month, the wildly successful director-producer-writer said he is "no longer attracted" to action films, even as some are on his plate.
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Also in Monday morning's round-up of news briefs: The deadline looms for the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards consideration. Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter receive London Fest honors; And a Chinese-Japan row over uninhabited islands spills into the Tokyo International Film Festival.
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"This has been a journey for me that's unlike nothing I've done before. It's been a real ride and it's still unfinished." So said Steven Spielberg Monday night as he introduced the New York Film Festival's "Surprise Screening," Lincoln, though most everyone in the jammed unruly line(s) getting into the Alice Tully Hall all but knew the film starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, would be the 'surprise.'
The general consensus about the film is that it is a serious contender for Oscar glory, though with the likes of Day-Lewis and a stunning performance by Tommy Lee Jones as radical Republican Congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens, as well as a script by Tony Kushner and director Spielberg, how could it not be?
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If President Obama didn't exactly dominate Mitt Romney during their debate on Wednesday night, he got a nice subliminal boost courtesy of Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis. Following the political wrestling match, Disney ran an extended TV spot for Lincoln that finally justified all of the early Oscar talk the film has generated and and not-so-subtly implied the 16th and 44th Presidents of the United States are kindred spirits. more »
Also in Tuesday afternoon's round-up of news briefs Topher Grace and Anthony Mackie join a new pic. Sony Classics picks a new title for U.S. release. And, Morgan Spurlock names a new exec at his production company.
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Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman Tom Rothman hit headlines two weeks ago when an announcement came from the studio that the 59 year-old would exit the studio at the end of the year, effectively ending a longstanding pairing with fellow co-chairman/CEO Jim Gianopulos. News soon came out that he'll produce Steven Spielberg's next project, Robopocalypse. At a New York Film Festival event over the weekend, Rothman remained tight lipped about casting rumors surrounding the feature.
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This is a case of life imitating art, or maybe just both going full circle. An Italian man took a cue from the 2002 Steven Spielberg film Catch Me if You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio and donned a pilot's uniform, fake identification and gained access to at least one flight in a cockpit. Apparently the age of intense airport security failed to initially discover the faux-pilot, who posed under the pseudonym of "Andrea Sirlo" before being arrested at a bar in Turin Airport.
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Also in Thursday afternoon's round-up of news briefs, upcoming New York Film Festival debut Frances Ha gets a buyer. The Rome Film Festival will debut a new section with a film by a quartet of auteurs. Any Day Now and Alex Gibney's The Last Gladiators heads to theaters. And Focus Features welcomes a new executive vice president.
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In her new memoir My Mother Was Nuts, actress-comedienne-filmmaker Penny Marshall writes of her remarkable life: Growing up the youngest of three in The Bronx, she had a daughter followed brother Garry into showbiz, got famous as one-half of Laverne & Shirley, got married twice, got divorced twice, opened her home to friends like John Belushi, Carrie Fisher, Steven Spielberg, and Robert De Niro, and became the first female director to break the $100 million mark with 1988's Big, also notching films like Awakenings, A League Of Their Own, Renaissance Man, and The Preacher's Wife along the way.
Ringing Movieline to discuss her baldly honest, often hilarious memoir — which also reveals darker times, recreational drug use, an abortion, an on-set miscarriage — Marshall explained why she set out to write her life story to begin with: "You want to set the record straight on certain things, because there are so many rumors."
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Steven Spielberg debuted the trailer to Lincoln, his highly anticipated film about the 16th U.S. President at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, but the experience was less-than-mesmerizing. That's because the webcast was initially plagued with glitches that left some viewers with nothing more than a "buffering" notice or moments when the trailer seemed to fade in and out of blackness. The Google + Hangout session with the filmmaker and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who stars as Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln, was also bedeviled by sound problems that turned the question-and-answer session into an annoying echo chamber. If you didn't — or couldn't — see the trailer during its premiere, check it out after the jump, along with the first images from Spielberg's '12 Oscar contender. more »
Ahead of Thursday's trailer premiere, Steven Spielberg and Co. have released a first-look teaser for Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th President of the United States. Get a taste of what Spielberg has in store with this somber (but stirring!) bit of footage from the film.
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In honor of its 30th anniversary (and to promote the upcoming Blu-ray release, ka-ching!), Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial will return to theaters in October for a one-night only special engagement in October, via Fathom Events. As a bonus, the digitally-remastered film will be accompanied by making-of materials and a remembrance by Drew Barrymore — Gertie! — and, probably, buckets full of Reese's Pieces.
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The theatrical trailer for Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated Lincoln will debut at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Sept. 13 during a Google + Hangout with the director and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Robert Todd Lincoln. more »
