Spielberg to Direct Liam Neeson as Abe Lincoln

[enkydu]

Spielberg eyes Neeson to star as Abe Lincoln. The actor would reunite with the ''Schindler's List'' director for a biopic of the Civil War president

Is Liam Neeson king of the biopics? The star of Schindler's List, Rob Roy, Michael Collins, and Kinsey may face his tallest challenge yet playing Abraham Lincoln. Variety reports that Steven Spielberg, who directed Neeson's Oscar-nominated performance in Schindler, is in talks with the actor to star in a film focusing on Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War, based on a biography of the 16th president by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin that's due out next fall. That's about when the movie would open as well, if Spielberg begins shooting in January 2006 as planned. Meanwhile, Spielberg has to finish another war movie set on American soil, the alien-invasion saga War of the Worlds, which is supposed to wrap production in March and have the special effects finished in time for a June 29 release. Neeson will be seen on screen this year in Ridley Scott's Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven and in Batman Begins.

As a big admirer of Abe Lincoln and a big fan of Spielberg, this sounds very promising indeed. Although I have been waiting for this movie to get out of development hell for years (I think I bought HSX stock in it in early 2002), I do wonder what's going to come of Spielberg's Vengance project (the Munich olympic disaster) that he was going to do before War of the Worlds.