With the announcement that plans are moving ahead fast on Robert Reford’s Lincoln-themed movie, The Conspirator, many wondered what this meant for Steven Spielberg’s long-gestating biopic of the American president. The film has been trapped in development hell, with the project announced a couple of years ago, but it’s got delayed endlessly due to script, budget and location problems. However Spielberg isn’t ready to give up on his dream and has confirmed that neither the production issues or Redford’s movie are going to derail his plans.
He told Variety that, “We are very happy that Redford will be doing this Lincoln movie. It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be, and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible.”
He is right about the differences, as Redford’s film mainly takes place after Lincoln’s assassination and revolves around a woman charged with helping in the conspiracy to kill him, while Spielberg’s movie will be a straigthforward biopic of the President, concentrating on his angst over the length and toll of the American Civil War. Vartiety reports that the script for Spielberg’s movie is currently being reworked by Angels In America writer, Tony Kushner. However as yet there’s no news on when he might actually get round to filming it.
The same report in the trade mag also offered the intesting throwaway line that, “Spielberg is presently focusing on his ‘reimagining’ of Harvey, with Robert Downey Jr. possibly playing the man who sees an invisible rabbit.” Although they don’t say where they got their info about Downey Jr from, or how official it is, it certainly an interesting idea, as he’s one of the few actors who could really pull it off well. Although initial speculation surrounded Tom Hanks, he almost immediately distanced himself from the role of Elwood P Dowd, the man who’s friends with an invisible, six-foot tall rabbit. Although it’s not official yet, don’t be surprised if it turns out Downey Jr. will indeed play the lead in Spielberg’s movie.