Daniel Day-Lewis playing Lincoln for Spielberg - SheKnows.com

Daniel Day-Lewis and Steven Spielberg are teaming up for a Abraham Lincoln biopic.

In life, there are very few sure things, but when Spielberg's new film Lincoln was announced, all we can say is that it will be brilliant. In fact, we’d like to thank the Academy in advance for all the awards the film version of Abraham Lincoln's life will surely receive with Spielberg at the helm and Day-Lewis portraying the Civil War president.

Are you ready for this? Chills! Just the thought of these two cinematic luminaries together gets us thrilled.

For decades, Day-Lewis and Spielberg are names synonymous with celluloid greatness. From My Left Foot to E.T., two of our favorite films of all time, to There Will Be Blood and Catch Me If You Can -- it’s hard to find two craftsman who are more esteemed or talented.

But it gets better -- the Oscar winners are working on a DreamWorks biopic about Abraham Lincoln.

The film, simply titled Lincoln according to a studio rep, is based on the best-selling book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln -- by Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin. The story will focus on our 16th president’s leadership style. According to Goodwin, Lincoln was a master at soothing egos and turning rivals into allies. In Kerns Goodwin's brilliant book, she focuses on the president’s relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates -- all were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860. Each lost to Lincoln.

As if the film weren’t prestigious enough, the screen adaptation is being written by Tony Kushner, who also won a Pulitzer Prize for his seminal play, Angels in America. Like we said, "We’d like to thank the Academy!"

Filming is set to begin in 2011 in order to make it to theaters, and into your office Oscar pool, by 2012.

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Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’: Could this be the most awards-laden cast ever?

Spielberg: NBC; Day-Lewis: Bob Charlotte/PR Photos; Oscar Statuette: ©A.M.P.A.S.®

With the news yesterday that Steven Spielberg’s long-in-the-works biopic Lincoln finally has its start date (Fall 2011) and lead star (Daniel Day-Lewis), we couldn’t help but notice the serious accolades adorning every corner of the film already: The director has won three Oscars (and an Irving G. Thalberg Award), and has been nominated seven more times; the star has won two Oscars, and two more nods; the book the film is based on, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; and the screenplay was penned by Pulitzer Prize, Tony, and Emmy-award winner Tony Kushner, who won an Oscar nod for his screenplay for Spielberg’s 2005 thriller, Munich.

That’s a lot of hardware already, enough to make this movie pretty much an automatic Oscar contender for 2012. But first, they’ve got to cast that eponymous team of rivals for Lincoln’s cabinet, his wife, and (likely) his assassin John Wilkes Booth. And in the spirit of Kearns Goodwin’s book, it just made sense to us that the rest of the cast also be a team of rivals… for Oscar nominations. So, forthwith, our guesses for what could be one of the most Oscar-laden casts ever: 

First up, Mary Todd Lincoln. Nine years her husband’s junior, she was famously wracked with depression while living in the White House — the death of your 12-year-old son and siblings in the Civil War (fighting for the Confederacy, no less) can do that to a person. Candidates: Hilary Swank (two Oscars); Kate Winslet (one Oscar, five nominations other than her winning one).

William Henry Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State and eight years his senior, was long considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 1860, until Lincoln won the support of major G.O.P. party big-wig and newspaper magnate Horace Greeley (cameo by two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks). He survived an assassination attempt the same night of Lincoln’s murder, even though he’d been stabbed in the neck and face. Candidates: Robert De Niro (two Oscars, four other nominations); Tommy Lee Jones (one Oscar, two other nominations);

Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s first Secretary of the Treasury, was another Republican candidate for president against Lincoln. He famously put himself on the very first federal $1 bill. Candidates: Kevin Spacey (two Oscars); Sean Penn (two Oscars, three other nominations)

Edward Bates, Lincoln’s Attorney General who was 15 years his senior, was Lincoln’s third major rival for the Republican nomination in 1860. Candidates: Jack Nicholson (three Oscars, nine nominations); Dustin Hoffman (two Oscars; five other nominations)

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the leader of the Union Army and 13 years Lincoln’s junior, won the Civil War and was a devoted supporter of the president. Candidates: Philip Seymour Hoffman (one Oscar, two other nominations); Russell Crowe (one Oscar, two other nominations)

John Wilkes Booth, the 26-year-old actor and Confederate sympathizer shot Lincoln in the back of the head at point-blank range mere days after the official end of the Civil War. He was caught and killed by Union soldiers 12 days later. Candidates: Ryan Gosling (one nomination); Casey Affleck (one nomination); Adrien Brody (one Oscar)

So what do you make of this speculative cast, PopWatchers? Do you think hiring only Oscar-celebrated actors proved to be the best policy? Or are there actors with fewer (or no) official accolades who are better fits for these roles?

More on Lincoln:
Daniel Day-Lewis to play President Lincoln in Steven Spielberg biopic
Liam Neeson no longer Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’
Steven Spielberg plans to push ahead with his Lincoln film
Steven Spielberg denies rumors that his Lincoln project has been shelved

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Episode Two Of 'The Walking Dead' Is 'All Action,' Says Andrew Lincoln - MTV.com

Now that "The Walking Dead" premiere is in the rearview mirror and the series is a bona fide hit, it's only natural to start looking ahead to future installments of AMC's record-breaking adaptation of of Robert Kirkman's post-apocalyptic survival comic.

When "The Walking Dead" star Andrew Lincoln dropped by Splash Page HQ, I asked him about the second episode of the series ("Guts") and where it takes Rick Grimes, which characters to watch out for, and how it differs from the pilot episode.

"Episode Two is so radically different from the atmosphere of Episode One," Lincoln told MTV News. "I think what they've done beautifully in the first three episodes is [to] just keep changing the format and the atmosphere of the episodes. But certainly, Episode Two is an all-action episode."

"You see loads of Steven Yeun," he added, indicating that the meeting between Rick and fan-favorite character Glenn is just around the corner.

In the comics, Glenn is the chief scavenger for the survivors, able to get in and out of the city and find supplies with relative ease. This could come in handy for Rick, who was left stranded inside an abandoned tank at the end of the series' premiere.

"He's a terrific actor," said Lincoln of the relatively unknown actor bringing Glenn to life in the series. "This is his first big role and he's going to be a huge star — believe me. He's hilarious, he's dynamic, and he looks exactly like the character in the graphic novel."

"I'm the straight man to his wise-cracker," laughed Lincoln. "He's great."

"The Walking Dead" airs Sunday at 10 PM Eastern on AMC. Keep it locked to Splash Page for comprehensive coverage of every episode this season, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more!

Let us know what you think in the comment section or on Twitter! You can also follow me, Splash Page editor Rick Marshall, on Twitter!

Tags andrew lincoln, The Walking Dead, Video

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