- 5 hours ago
THR’s awards analyst Scott Feinberg hosts a Q&A with Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis and the cast and crew of ‘Lincoln’.
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00:05we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this
00:12nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom that government of the people
00:18by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth it is a great honor
00:26for me to be able to introduce to you and and moderate a Q&A tonight with a large sampling
00:33of the people who are most responsible for the film that we've just seen obviously first
00:38and foremost among them please welcome Steven Spielberg
01:08please now welcome the screenwriter Tony Kushner
01:23and now for our cast members first of all please welcome Lee Pace
01:40next James Spader
01:55next David Shrithern
02:09next Sally Field
02:23and finally Mr. Lincoln himself Daniel Day-Lewis
02:30applause
02:36applause
02:40applause
02:43applause
02:44applause
02:54The first question I'd like to pose to Mr. Spielberg
02:58I wonder if you can talk about the roots of your personal fascination with Lincoln
03:05and how a conversation back in 1999, so quite a while ago already,
03:11with Doris Kearns Goodwin sparked the idea of doing a film about him.
03:16Well, I think I forgot my long fascination with the 16th president,
03:23and I think that Doris reminded me of really how compelled I was
03:28by the mystery of what I didn't learn in school about Abraham Lincoln
03:32when she first met with me in 1999 to do a millennium project for CBS,
03:38and she was one of the consultants on the project,
03:40and I was asking her what she was currently writing,
03:42and she said, I'm writing a story about the Lincoln presidency.
03:46And that was the moment for me, just a bit of an awakening
03:51that suddenly, it's kind of like my childhood flash before me,
03:55and I remember all the moments that Lincoln had meant something to me growing up in school.
04:00I don't know why.
04:01I have no idea why, of all the presidents we studied in elementary and high school,
04:05why this particular person stood out more than anybody else,
04:08but I think it was because he was really awkward
04:11and looked like an outsider, looked like somebody I would be friends with,
04:19and it just didn't seem very presidential,
04:21and the things he did, his deeds were much stronger
04:24than his physical appearance would have suggested
04:29that he would have earned the right to be on Mount Rushmore
04:33and the right to be on the money
04:34and the right to have a memorial and so many things named after him.
04:38So that was just really it,
04:39and then once Doris began to send me chapters,
04:43before the publisher got the chapters, by the way,
04:45I realized that she was doing something that had not been done before.
04:49It was a really, really personal journey throughout Lincoln's presidency.
04:57And from what I've read,
04:59you knew very early on that you wanted Mr. Day-Lewis for Lincoln.
05:04I wonder, Mr. Day-Lewis, when you first heard about this,
05:08were you so sure that you wanted the job?
05:10No, I was hiding.
05:13I was both amazed and delighted and absolutely bewildered
05:21in equal measure that Stephen would even consider me for such a thing.
05:27But at that time, and it was actually some years before Tony wrote his version of the story,
05:36as much as I felt that could really be a wonderful job for somebody else,
05:41I didn't feel that irresistible tug into the orbit of the life of the man
05:52or the greater life of his world.
05:54And that came much later on.
05:57So I didn't have to struggle with temptation,
05:59but I was just astonished that Stephen would invite me to do it.
06:04And Mr. Kushner,
06:07how did it first come to be that you heard about this project
06:12and then arrived at the conclusion
06:15that it was not going to be the kind of movie
06:20where you could tell the whole story?
06:22You were going to have to hone in on a very select, brief portion of his life
06:26and in order for it to ever be shown in a theater.
06:32The first time I heard about it was
06:34I had breakfast with Kathy Kennedy in, I think, 2003
06:40when Angels in America was airing on HBO.
06:44And Kathy was in town and asked to meet with me.
06:46And I asked her, you know,
06:48what are you and Stephen working on?
06:50I'd never met Stephen.
06:51And she said a film about the murder of the Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich
06:58and a film about Abraham Lincoln.
07:00And I said, well, that's a very exciting project
07:03and, you know, thanks for breakfast.
07:07And things happened.
07:09And I don't think, I've been trying to remember,
07:11I don't think we ever talked about Lincoln while we were making Munich.
07:14But then, yeah, but then about five or six months after Munich was released,
07:19Stephen called and asked me if I'd be interested in doing it.
07:23You know, Doris' book is a masterpiece.
07:26It's 700 pages.
07:28It's a four-way political biography.
07:30And it's the living definition of a book
07:32that isn't going to make a two-and-a-half-hour film.
07:35And the more I read about the Lincoln administration,
07:37the more convinced I became that you could take,
07:40and I don't think this is in any way an exaggeration,
07:42you could take any week of the four years that he spent in the White House
07:46and make a ten-part miniseries with no...
07:49I finally decided to do the last four months
07:52and wrote a screenplay that was 500 pages long.
07:54This is the first quarter of that.
07:57You know, I mean, it's just,
07:59it's a life that's so insanely packed
08:01with incredible dramatic incident.
08:05So figuring out how to boil it down
08:08was something that Stephen and I struggled with
08:10for four-and-a-half, five years.
08:12Five years.
08:13Wow.
08:15And I don't, I'm approaching this somewhat chronologically,
08:18so I don't want the folks in the middle to,
08:20I am coming to you.
08:21I just want to ask first, Mr. Day-Lewis,
08:25another question here,
08:28which is that I understand when you signed on to do this,
08:32one of your, you sort of had a request
08:34that it be held off for a year.
08:36And I want to ask you and Mr. Spielberg,
08:38I know, well, let me put it this way,
08:40another interview you had said that initially
08:41saddened you a little bit
08:42because I think you wanted to get going,
08:44but you ultimately found that it was really beneficial.
08:47And so I just want to ask both of you
08:49what the product of that year,
08:52what some of the benefits of that year were.
08:57Well,
09:00it's hard to describe a year,
09:01but just in a general way,
09:07I'm a very slow reader.
09:11And I had a lot of reading to do
09:14and a lot of reading that I needed to do,
09:16a lot of reading that I wished to do.
09:19And then I suppose if you can divide
09:23any period of preparation into two parts,
09:27you sense that there is a line drawn somewhere
09:32and it's not always known to you
09:36where you will come up to that line,
09:38but the line basically separates the objective experience,
09:42which would include learning
09:45from this more subjective work
09:47of trying to grow towards
09:50an understanding of that life
09:52from one's point of view.
09:55And I also was grateful to have that time
10:02because I knew Tony was still working
10:04and I thought it would afford us all a period
10:07during which we could discuss the ways
10:10in which the story was developing.
10:19When I was fairly young,
10:24I figured out just for myself
10:26and everyone finds a different way of doing things,
10:28but I like to do things slowly.
10:32I like to grow into an understanding of things
10:36and I feel that most,
10:39the illusion that one creates for oneself,
10:41finally is that the decisions make themselves,
10:44but you can only really have that illusion
10:47with time in my case
10:48and I have a slow rhythm.
10:55Well, the year was at first,
10:57yeah, of course I was disappointed
10:58because when Daniel committed,
10:59I said, oh my God,
11:00we'll be shooting in four months
11:02and Daniel said,
11:02what do you mean four months?
11:04And he really told me
11:06that he needed a year to get ready
11:09and to read.
11:11But that year turned out to be a blessing
11:14and it gave Tony and I a lot more time
11:17to delve more vertically into Lincoln
11:19and the minutiae, the details,
11:22which I think we celebrate.
11:23I think this film celebrates more,
11:26of all the movies I've made,
11:27I think there's more details
11:28that I care about in this film
11:30than anything else I've ever done
11:31and I think a lot of those details
11:33occurred the year we had to find them.
11:36And the other thing was
11:38it gave me time to cast 145 speaking parts.
11:41That's a lot of parts.
11:42That's more roles than I've ever had
11:44in any single movie until now.
11:46And it made possible for actors
11:49like David Straith Hearn,
11:50who always has a huge busy schedule,
11:53it made time for Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
11:55who plays Robert Lincoln,
11:57who was absolutely unavailable
11:58and would not have been able to play Robert
12:00had we made the film in four months.
12:01A lot of the actors
12:03who were not free during that time
12:04but were still my first choices
12:06became free because we waited a year.
12:10Once you had your Lincoln,
12:12you needed your Mrs. Lincoln
12:14and Ms. Field,
12:15I've again seen you
12:17and heard you talk about
12:21the fact that it was a
12:25sort of you felt
12:27you wanted to convince Mr. Spielberg
12:28that you were right for this part
12:31you hadn't been in movies
12:33for a few years
12:34and I know there were
12:35some other reservations
12:38or things that may have come up
12:39and I just wonder for you
12:40what can you talk about
12:41how it did come together
12:42because it's a, I think,
12:43a beautiful story
12:44how it all worked out.
12:48Testing, testing.
12:50Thank you so much.
12:54So that little button
12:55does such a wonderful job
12:57on that machine, doesn't it?
12:59This is a long story.
13:01I'm going to try to make it shorter
13:03because we have so many wonderful people
13:06here to talk.
13:07Let's see how fast I can talk.
13:10He moves slowly.
13:11I move very, very, very, very, very fast.
13:14So, take my time.
13:20So, I've been watching for Mary forever.
13:23I felt always in my heart
13:26as an actress
13:26that there would be some,
13:28that there would be certain roles
13:29that are right for me.
13:30Mary was always one of them.
13:31They never really explored Mary at all.
13:35And I heard that Doris Kern Goodwin
13:37was writing a book.
13:38I heard she was writing a book
13:39on Abe and Mary at the time.
13:41It turned out to be Team of Rivals.
13:43I heard that Stephen had purchased it.
13:45I somehow let it be known
13:46that, oh boy, oh boy,
13:47would I be interested.
13:50He came to me in 2005, I think.
13:54Earlier.
13:55Was it earlier?
13:56And said, would I be Mary?
13:58And I was like, oh my God,
13:59yes, I'll absolutely be Mary.
14:01But in my heart, I thought,
14:02there's a lot of slip
14:03between cup and lip, as they say.
14:07And so many years had gone by
14:09and writers came and went
14:10and then Tony Kushner came on board
14:12and delivered the most exquisite
14:13piece of writing perhaps
14:15I have ever read.
14:17And I went, okay.
14:20And then Daniel Day-Lewis came on board
14:22and went, in my heart,
14:24here comes the battle.
14:27The battle is a lot of obvious things.
14:29First of all, it needed to be.
14:31There needed to be this battle
14:33for Mary to be known.
14:35Both, I needed to pull it out of me
14:37in this tenacious way
14:39and Stephen needed to see that
14:41and be a part of it
14:42and ultimately Daniel was a part of it.
14:47Stephen thought he should walk away.
14:49He didn't see us together.
14:50I argued with him and said,
14:53you're wrong.
14:54And I said, please test me.
14:57He said, okay.
14:58The generous Mr. Spielberg tested me.
15:01It wasn't quite right.
15:04Daniel was off in his process,
15:07newly and in Ireland,
15:08which is far away.
15:10I was in California.
15:13And so we couldn't ask him to come
15:15and be a part of this.
15:16I did it by myself.
15:18And Stephen said,
15:19I put you together with some film of Daniel.
15:21It just isn't going to work.
15:22And I said, God, thank you.
15:24Thank you for this chance.
15:25Then the really good news is
15:27I didn't kill myself that day
15:30because Stephen called me the next day
15:32and said he couldn't get it out of his mind,
15:34that he walked around the lot all day.
15:37And also he had talked to Daniel.
15:41And he had sent Daniel the footage
15:43and yikes.
15:46And he wanted to meet me
15:48and Stephen said,
15:49this is a great idea.
15:50Let's all go to New York and meet.
15:53And so we were trying to make that happen.
15:55And then all of a sudden
15:55they're calling me and saying,
15:56do I want the same hair and makeup people?
15:59And I said, for a cup of coffee?
16:01I, okay.
16:04No, it was that generous person number two.
16:09Daniel, I think,
16:10now they never told me.
16:11I'm surmising.
16:12They will never tell me
16:13what went on between the two of them.
16:16All of a sudden Daniel was flying in
16:18for the day from Ireland
16:20to test with me on film
16:23so that Stephen could see us together.
16:25And that's what we did.
16:25We met early version of Mr. Lincoln,
16:29early version of Molly, Mary,
16:32and spent an afternoon
16:35doing some very long
16:38and very strange improv.
16:39I can't remember one single word we said.
16:42Probably I talked a lot
16:43and you talked very little.
16:47And I said, thank you very much.
16:50This was an amazing afternoon
16:51and I'm terribly grateful.
16:53And I wasn't recording sound.
16:55Did you know that?
16:56You weren't?
16:57No.
16:58Oh my God.
16:59I was brilliant that day.
17:00You can't believe how good I was.
17:04That is insane.
17:06Probably a very good idea, ultimately.
17:09I was recording sound.
17:13Oh dear.
17:14Oh dear.
17:16Anyway,
17:17I was driving home
17:18and my phone rang.
17:20It was Daniel and Stephen together
17:21on the phone.
17:23saying,
17:24will you be our Molly?
17:26And so,
17:27I was.
17:29Thank you so much.
17:35One of the things,
17:37as Mr. Spielberg referenced,
17:39so many interesting parts
17:40in this film.
17:42But,
17:43I wonder,
17:44and I want to pose this,
17:45if I may,
17:46as a group question,
17:48Mr. Schwerthern,
17:49Mr. Spader,
17:50Mr. Pace,
17:51you are all people
17:52who have starred
17:54in productions of your own,
17:56many,
17:56some of the best
17:58of the last few years,
18:00the last decades,
18:01and yet,
18:02when you get a script
18:03that offers
18:05a smaller,
18:06a supporting part,
18:07but it's a,
18:08from a Tony Kushner script
18:10and directed
18:10by Stephen Spielberg,
18:11do you have to
18:12hesitate for a second
18:14or do you say,
18:15I'm excited
18:15to be in regardless?
18:19Whoever,
18:19Mr. Schwerthern,
18:20would you like to go first?
18:21I,
18:21I just,
18:22I think of all
18:23the great things
18:23that I've seen you in
18:25and I just wonder
18:27if that's even,
18:28it crosses your mind
18:29when you,
18:29when you see the material.
18:33No,
18:33it didn't.
18:34I mean,
18:34it was,
18:35you answered the question.
18:42The surface,
18:43Mr. Spader.
18:46Oh,
18:46I was,
18:47yeah,
18:47is this working?
18:48Yeah.
18:48Have I got it?
18:48The button.
18:49Yeah.
18:51Oh,
18:51yeah,
18:52thrilled.
18:52I mean,
18:53it was
18:54call of a lifetime
18:55for me
18:55to get invited
18:56to the set
18:57and to be on the set
18:59and work with
18:59all these incredible actors
19:00and on this,
19:02on this script,
19:03you know,
19:04with,
19:04with Stephen Spielberg
19:05yeah,
19:06job of a lifetime.
19:08I learned so much
19:09and,
19:10yeah.
19:11I have to say
19:12that I saw Lee
19:13do an independent film
19:15with a wonderful director,
19:17Max Winkler,
19:18a film called Ceremony
19:20and,
19:21and,
19:22and I,
19:22I saw two really
19:24amazing performers
19:25in the film.
19:25There were many,
19:26many good performers
19:27in the film
19:27but I saw
19:29yourself,
19:30Lee,
19:30and,
19:32and I saw,
19:33I guess the other one
19:35was at Jake Johnson
19:36and,
19:37and so I began
19:38asking Max
19:39about this guy
19:39because Tony and I
19:40had an idea
19:41about,
19:41about Fernando Wood
19:44that rather than
19:45have somebody
19:45who is spewing
19:46so much hate,
19:48hatred and,
19:49and racism,
19:51you know,
19:52cast somebody
19:53in the part
19:53that is like
19:54Errol Flynn
19:55and then have
19:56that stuff
19:57come out of the mouth
19:57of Errol Flynn
19:58and,
19:59and,
19:59and does it make it
20:00any more or less
20:01acceptable?
20:01It was a kind
20:02of an interesting
20:03litmus test
20:03and,
20:04so we didn't go
20:05for an obvious
20:07person that would
20:08have twisted their
20:09face into the look
20:10of someone who,
20:11who has spent
20:12so much time,
20:13you know,
20:14with,
20:15with,
20:15you know,
20:16a black light
20:17in their heart
20:18and,
20:19and Lee didn't test
20:20or anything.
20:21It just,
20:21we just,
20:22right,
20:22just gave you the part
20:23and you,
20:23and he,
20:24first day of shooting
20:25and we didn't,
20:26we didn't even talk
20:26about the accent.
20:27He just gave you
20:28the part.
20:30I remember coming
20:31to set and kind
20:32of standing there
20:33in that,
20:33you know,
20:33the room was a,
20:34you know,
20:34a little about this size,
20:36wasn't it?
20:36The Congress that we,
20:37that we shot at the Capitol
20:39in Virginia
20:39and,
20:40you know,
20:40kind of starting
20:41that big monologue.
20:42That was my first day
20:43working,
20:44wasn't it?
20:44And I was just like,
20:45and then Tony rewrote
20:46the monologue
20:47and you had to memorize
20:48it in four minutes.
20:49Oh,
20:49I remember that too.
20:53So once,
20:54once things got,
20:55well,
20:55I would,
20:57I'm hoping Mr. Spader
20:58wants to add something,
20:59but I don't know,
20:59I guess not.
21:01I'm really the layabout
21:03in this bunch.
21:07I showed up
21:09at the last minute
21:10and just had more fun
21:12making this film
21:14than any in memory
21:17with the most delightful people,
21:20many of whom are here tonight
21:22and many of whom are not.
21:25It really was just,
21:26I just wished it hadn't ended
21:29and when I looped the film
21:32I wished it hadn't ended again
21:34and then when I saw the film
21:35I called Daniel immediately
21:37and said that seeing him
21:39and Stephen was the next call
21:41and told them both
21:42that seeing the film
21:44the first time
21:44all it made me do
21:46is miss them so desperately.
21:49So really for me
21:51this was just
21:53my absolute pleasure.
22:00I think
22:02from
22:02if I'm correct
22:04this all was shot
22:05towards the end
22:06of last year
22:07is that right?
22:08And over the course
22:09of four months
22:10and very long
22:12days
22:13and I just wonder
22:14if you Mr. Spielberg
22:15can talk about
22:15the way that you
22:17dressed
22:17and addressed
22:19these folks
22:20because I think
22:21that both would
22:22be unconventional
22:24not what you would normally
22:26what you've historically
22:26done on
22:27on your sets
22:28and I just find it interesting
22:29if you could talk about why.
22:31Well I think the
22:33you know
22:34the approach to this
22:35was
22:35you know
22:36to create a kind of
22:39just a kind of
22:40womb of authenticity
22:41you know
22:42a room and a womb
22:43and
22:45the Rick Carter sets
22:46were extraordinary
22:46and they were
22:48absolutely
22:50reproductions
22:50of the White House
22:51as it existed
22:52in 1865
22:53even with
22:54assumptions made
22:55about the color
22:56of the wallpaper
22:56based on research
22:57that we had all done
22:58and Rick had done
22:59what the rugs
23:01looked like
23:01and Rick just did
23:03an amazing job
23:03with just
23:05you know
23:05not a lot of money
23:06I mean
23:07this was not
23:07one of our
23:08hugely expensive
23:09projects
23:11but the whole
23:13feeling for me
23:14was that
23:15and I think a lot
23:16of this was tacit
23:17it was unspoken
23:19that there was
23:20such admiration
23:20for Abraham Lincoln
23:21among the crew
23:22and the cast
23:24I didn't have to say
23:25a lot
23:25I didn't have to give
23:26a bunch of ground rules
23:27about how we're going
23:27to conduct ourselves
23:28comport ourselves
23:29in a different way
23:30that we may have
23:32comported ourselves
23:33on other movie sets
23:34which often are raucous
23:35and fun
23:36and you know
23:37and everybody
23:38it's a family
23:38it's sometimes
23:39even a bit like a circus
23:41and in this case
23:42I didn't have to say
23:43very much
23:43everybody came
23:44with a kind of
23:45reverence to the material
23:46to Tony's script
23:46to Daniel
23:48and what he's
23:50contributed to
23:52you know
23:52already a lifetime
23:54of contribution
23:55it would have been
23:56anybody else's
23:56nine or ten lifetimes
23:57what he's done
23:59in the short span
24:01of years
24:01he's been telling stories
24:03and we all
24:05basically
24:07didn't speak
24:08I mean
24:09I set a tone
24:11in a way
24:11by deciding
24:12to call everybody
24:13by their character names
24:14not by their
24:16surnames
24:16so you know
24:18you were
24:19Mr. Wood
24:20Tommy Lee Jones
24:21who was Mr. Stevens
24:23Mr. Secretary
24:24I never called
24:25David Strathair
24:26anything except
24:26Mr. Secretary
24:28Sally
24:29I called Molly
24:30or Mary Todd
24:31and of course
24:32you called me
24:34Mrs. Lincoln
24:34and Mrs. Lincoln
24:35too
24:35when I was really
24:36yes
24:36I did when I was
24:37upset with you
24:38go ahead and say it
24:38yeah
24:39only that
24:40I heard you
24:41yelled Jimmy
24:41once from the floor
24:44yes I yelled Jimmy
24:45I lost my head
24:46okay
24:46one time I lost my head
24:47and I yelled at Jimmy
24:49I don't know why
24:49I did that
24:51and of course
24:52Daniel
24:52I called Mr. President
24:54and
24:55I just simply
24:56came dressed
24:57in a regular
24:57nice
24:58nice suit
24:59every day
25:00I didn't
25:00I've read that I
25:02had Joanna Johnson
25:03put me in period costume
25:04that never happened
25:05once
25:06not even for Halloween
25:08that never happened
25:09but it was
25:10it was nice
25:11because the thing
25:12that I will never forget
25:13when we had a lot of actors
25:14in one space
25:16and we asked
25:17the actors
25:18if they would just
25:18remain seated
25:19while we made
25:19a slight lighting adjustment
25:21which sometimes
25:21takes 15-20 minutes
25:23and never gave any rules
25:25about how you
25:25conduct yourselves
25:26when you're sitting around
25:27waiting for Janusz
25:28to move the lights around
25:30but no one spoke
25:32no one spoke
25:33no one talked about
25:34home life
25:34no one talked about
25:35the 21st century
25:36no one talked about
25:37politics today
25:38everybody just sat there
25:40very quietly
25:41waiting for the next shot
25:42and I've never
25:43ever had that happen
25:44to me on any set before
25:46so
25:46and that
25:47that was throughout
25:48the entire production
25:50and
25:52Miss Field
25:53I wonder if you can share
25:54along those same lines
25:55but
25:55but
25:56sort of humorously
25:57your communications
25:59with
25:59Mr. Lincoln
26:01were sometimes
26:02did blur into
26:04the 21st century
26:04technology
26:05and I just wonder
26:06if you can
26:06explain how
26:08some of your
26:09cell communications
26:10with Mr. Lincoln
26:12worked
26:12well it's not really
26:13that odd really
26:14when you think about it
26:15I did have
26:17I too had
26:18quite a number of months
26:19thank God
26:19because
26:20he was reading books
26:21and I was eating
26:23I had
26:24I had
26:25I had a lot of weight
26:26to gain
26:26so
26:27he was in Ireland
26:29I'm in Los Angeles
26:30there was no way
26:31for us to begin
26:32to form
26:33any kind of
26:34relationship
26:35we knew
26:35that we would
26:36hit the ground running
26:37this was
26:38a very tight budget
26:40there would be
26:40no rehearsal time
26:41you know
26:42we didn't have a luxury
26:43of two or three weeks
26:44rehearsal
26:44and
26:45so
26:46he actually
26:47started
26:48it was great
26:48it was
26:49I was doing
26:49a lot of research
26:50while I was eating
26:52and
26:53I was reading
26:55a lot of
26:55Mary's letters
26:56and
26:57in the language
26:58of the time
26:59which
26:59Tony
27:00used
27:01so
27:01eloquently
27:03you know
27:04you want to try
27:05to think
27:05like that
27:06and
27:07so
27:08we
27:09the only way
27:10we had
27:10to do that
27:11in lieu of
27:12writing letters
27:13which is how
27:13they communicated
27:15with each other
27:16when they were
27:16not together
27:18and that would
27:19have taken
27:19a long time
27:20the only
27:21thing we had
27:22other than email
27:23and he doesn't email
27:24which is
27:25okay
27:28and
27:29and you don't want to call
27:30I'm in
27:30I'm in Los Angeles
27:31he's in Ireland
27:32besides that I hate
27:33talking on the phone
27:34and I would have hated that
27:35so
27:36the thing that's left
27:38is to text
27:38and it made total sense
27:40and it was completely
27:41generous
27:42and lovely
27:42because it was
27:44a way
27:45to
27:46become
27:47slightly familiar
27:48with each other
27:49using the language
27:50and being
27:51the characters
27:51it made
27:52total sense
27:53it would have been weird
27:54had it not been the characters
27:56I mean
27:57but weird
27:58really weird
27:59so it was lovely
28:01and
28:02I
28:02I have cherished
28:04every text
28:08say it again
28:09it's just like writing a letter
28:11it was just literally
28:12like writing those
28:13short letters
28:13I was just reading
28:14and it was
28:15fabulous
28:16because I would have to
28:17really
28:18look at those
28:19look at the language
28:20and try to
28:20you know
28:21use that
28:22in the text
28:23I envisioned him
28:25writing his
28:25dashing his off
28:27really quickly
28:28whereas I was like
28:30painstakingly
28:31trying to
28:31piece them together
28:33if you dashed them
28:35off
28:35lie to me
28:39Mr. Stater
28:40I think
28:40one of the things
28:41that people
28:42learn from
28:43your character
28:44is that
28:44Lincoln
28:45who
28:47I think a lot of people
28:48learn
28:49or come to believe
28:50was
28:51beyond reproach
28:52he was
28:53godlike
28:53would never
28:55play politics
28:56even though he was
28:56in the political
28:57arena
28:58in fact
28:59that was not the case
29:01and I know
29:01working from
29:02the research
29:03of Mr. Kushner
29:04I just wonder
29:05if the two of you
29:05can talk about
29:06showing that side
29:08of Lincoln
29:10that was
29:11calculating
29:12and not necessarily
29:14in a bad way
29:15but that's the way
29:15things get done
29:17and so I just wonder
29:19for you
29:19what that process
29:20of discovery
29:21was like
29:27lobbying was
29:28a practice
29:28that really
29:30started with
29:30the first
29:31congress
29:32but it was
29:33really practice
29:36and it was
29:36still practice
29:37at this time
29:38as well
29:39but it was
29:40certainly
29:42more by the seat
29:43of your pants
29:44and amateurish
29:45and just
29:46the way life
29:48was at that time
29:48where people
29:49met in taverns
29:50and people
29:51the president
29:52rode a carriage
29:53through the streets
29:53and greeted people
29:54in the streets
29:55you know
29:56it was just
29:57a little
29:57more amateurish
29:59lobbying certainly
30:00became a little bit
30:02more institutionalized
30:03near the end
30:04of that century
30:04into the next
30:05but
30:08you know
30:09that's democracy
30:10at its
30:11very best
30:12discourse
30:13and argument
30:14and compromise
30:15and persuasion
30:17and as a means
30:20to the most
30:23perfect end
30:24which happens
30:25to be
30:25what made
30:27this amendment
30:28worthy of making
30:29a film about
30:32you know
30:33I think
30:34it shows
30:35what
30:35it defines
30:37what our democracy
30:38can be
30:39when it's working
30:40at its most active
30:41and with the most
30:43amount of argument
30:43and discourse
30:44and then compromise
30:46and
30:49Tony
30:50take it from there
30:51I
30:54well no
30:55I mean
30:55I think that's
30:55that sums it
30:56I mean
30:56the idea that Lincoln
30:58wasn't a political
30:59figure is
31:00you know
31:01I mean
31:01the reason that
31:02Doris' book
31:03was so important
31:04to us
31:04is that she's
31:05a political writer
31:06and a person
31:07steeped in
31:07the politics
31:08of Washington
31:09and you know
31:10the book
31:10is a political
31:12life of Lincoln
31:14and an appreciation
31:14of his incredible
31:15skill
31:16I mean
31:16she worked
31:16for Johnson
31:17she understood
31:18how
31:19you know
31:20important it is
31:21to have a president
31:22who knows how to work
31:24both in
31:24completely up front ways
31:26and some
31:27behind the scene ways
31:28with Congress
31:29so
31:30I will say
31:30one of the great
31:33joys for me
31:33during the shooting
31:35of the film
31:35is that
31:36I think a couple of days
31:37after I got to Richmond
31:38at the very beginning
31:39I was told to call James
31:42we'd never
31:42I don't think we'd ever met
31:44or anything
31:44and because
31:46there were all these scenes
31:47that were
31:47going to be
31:49shot without sound
31:50they were part of a montage
31:51of the three guys
31:53the three henchmen
31:55is what we called them
31:56bribing congressmen
31:57and James wanted to talk about
32:00what he would say
32:01in those scenes
32:02and we actually
32:03sort of together
32:04cobbled together
32:05this series of
32:06I think really
32:07really funny scenes
32:08bits and pieces
32:09of them
32:09made their way
32:10for those lip readers
32:10out there
32:11yeah
32:11it's a
32:12it's a
32:13historical
32:13but it was
32:14enormous
32:15I mean
32:15there was certainly
32:16speculation
32:17that much more
32:18provocative things
32:19happened
32:20in service
32:22to the passage
32:22of this amendment
32:23which
32:24because we
32:25were Tony
32:26and Stephen
32:27I certainly
32:28wasn't part of this
32:29at all
32:29but
32:31there was certainly
32:32speculation
32:32that much more
32:33that votes
32:34were bought
32:35and that cash
32:36exchanged hands
32:37there's certainly
32:38been speculation
32:39that those
32:39things happened
32:41and
32:42you know
32:43there certainly
32:44were implications
32:45in the film
32:46but
32:46that kind of
32:47thing
32:48was
32:48very active
32:49from
32:50I think
32:50Samuel Colt
32:51very early on
32:53was handing out
32:54pistols
32:54to try and extend
32:55his patents
32:56on his firearms
32:57and that was going
32:59on from the very
33:00first congress
33:00and is obviously
33:02going on today
33:03I think I actually
33:05found a plot
33:06we kept trying
33:07to work it
33:08into the movie
33:08and it kept
33:09getting pushed out
33:10because there just
33:10wasn't time
33:11where I think
33:11Mary
33:11Lincoln actually
33:13recruited Mary
33:14in this
33:15and she
33:16used her connection
33:17to Charles Sumner
33:18in the Senate
33:18to
33:21kill an
33:22anti-monopoly
33:23bill
33:24in exchange
33:25for the
33:26abstentions
33:26that you hear
33:27from the New Jersey
33:28senators
33:28both of whom
33:29mysteriously
33:29didn't show up
33:30that day
33:31for the vote
33:31and I think
33:32you could
33:33you know
33:33we'll never know
33:34because none of this
33:35was written down
33:35but I have a suspicion
33:36that it was Mary's
33:37active involvement
33:38and you know
33:39it didn't make it
33:40into the
33:40final cut
33:42well
33:43after this
33:45four month
33:46immersion
33:46in
33:4819th century
33:48life
33:49when this came
33:50to an end
33:52it must have been
33:55hard for everyone
33:56but particularly
33:56I would think
33:57for
33:58you Mr. Spiller
33:59you Mr. Day-Lewis
34:00to kind of
34:02come out of this
34:02it's
34:03and I just wonder
34:05you know
34:05I've read
34:06Mr. Day-Lewis
34:07where you said
34:07that it's always
34:08hard to come out of it
34:09that's partly why
34:10you've taken
34:11a few years
34:12between a lot
34:12of your projects
34:13but for this one
34:15can you talk about
34:16how it came
34:17to an end
34:17and was it
34:18difficult
34:19to say goodbye
34:20yeah I think
34:21sometimes
34:24it's been expressed
34:25in such a way
34:25it's a little
34:26misleading
34:27because it's
34:28almost as if
34:30implications
34:31that some
34:32exorcism
34:33has to take place
34:34to allow you
34:34to go about
34:35your normal
34:36business
34:36but it's not
34:38that at all
34:39I don't
34:40I can't say
34:41for sure
34:41that's what
34:42accounts for
34:43my periods
34:44of time
34:44in between
34:45it may be
34:46one of the
34:47things
34:47but much
34:48more than
34:49that need
34:50to rid
34:51oneself
34:51is actually
34:52the reluctance
34:53to let go
34:54and that
34:55really
34:57seems to make
34:58complete sense
34:59to me
34:59there's nothing
35:00supernatural
35:00about it
35:01it's really
35:02you know
35:02one has
35:03explored
35:04a life
35:04as thoroughly
35:05as one
35:06has been able
35:06to
35:07and the world
35:09that surrounded
35:10that life
35:11with a group
35:12of people
35:13very very
35:13closely
35:14one has gone
35:15to inordinate
35:15lengths
35:16to try
35:16and construct
35:17that illusion
35:18for oneself
35:19so that it
35:19might present
35:23a believable
35:25illusion
35:26for others
35:27and
35:28therefore
35:30there's
35:31enormous
35:31reluctance
35:32to move
35:33away from
35:34that
35:34because
35:36most of us
35:36do what
35:37we do
35:38and certainly
35:39in this case
35:41I think
35:41without exception
35:42sometimes
35:44there's a core
35:45group of you
35:45that are doing
35:46what you're doing
35:46because you're
35:47compelled to do it
35:48and you're not
35:49always surrounded
35:49by people
35:50that have the same
35:50degree of compulsion
35:52but in this case
35:54I felt that
35:54every single
35:55person involved
35:58was happy
36:00and felt
36:01nourished
36:01to be doing
36:02that work
36:03that they were doing
36:04and yes
36:05it's a sense
36:06of tremendous
36:07sadness
36:08to think that
36:08that part
36:09of one's
36:09relationship
36:10with that world
36:11and those lives
36:12has come to an end
36:13but the beauty
36:14of it is that
36:14you go back
36:15to enjoy
36:16that world
36:17and those lives
36:17from a different
36:19perspective again
36:20and Mr. Spielberg
36:22had you ever
36:22worked so closely
36:23with another actor
36:25on a film before
36:25and having that
36:28come to an end
36:29for you
36:30well
36:31I can't compare
36:32this to any
36:33other working
36:33experience
36:34you've ever had
36:35just every single
36:36level of Lincoln
36:37was unprecedented
36:39in my experience
36:43but I will tell
36:44you that
36:45in the four months
36:46of shooting
36:47Lincoln
36:47I actually
36:48made friends
36:48with Abraham Lincoln
36:51and on the last
36:53the last shot
36:54of the film
36:55at the end
36:56of Lincoln's life
36:56when he was
36:57at the Peterson
36:57house
36:59sort of bent
37:00in half
37:01because he was
37:01even too tall
37:02to have his feet
37:04all the way
37:04out to the
37:07end of the bed
37:09and that was
37:09the last shot
37:10of the picture
37:12when Daniel
37:13when we all
37:14disbanded
37:15and we went
37:15back to our
37:16rooms
37:16and Daniel
37:17went back
37:17to his room
37:19and I
37:20went to
37:21thank the crew
37:22and
37:22you know
37:23have some people
37:24stand up
37:25and be called
37:26out
37:26take a bow
37:28I heard that
37:29Daniel wanted
37:30to see Tony
37:30and I
37:30and we both
37:31went into
37:31his trailer
37:33and he was
37:34there as
37:35Abraham Lincoln
37:36but when we
37:37were finished
37:37hugging
37:38and all of
37:38our eyes
37:39were wet
37:40Daniel
37:42spoke to me
37:42as Daniel
37:43Day-Lewis
37:44and the
37:45voice that
37:46you all
37:46hear tonight
37:47and that's
37:48when I wept
37:49because that's
37:50when I realized
37:50that that was
37:51the last time
37:52I was ever
37:52going to be
37:53you know
37:54friends with
37:56a person
37:57who I really
37:57came to believe
37:57was our
37:5816th president
38:07and I have
38:08not asked him
38:08if he would
38:08do it again
38:09for my birthday
38:15in two and a
38:16half weeks
38:17but I'm not
38:18going to ask
38:19him that
38:19because he'll
38:20say no
38:23if we
38:24if we can
38:24I'd like to
38:25invite a few
38:25questions from
38:26the audience
38:26and so
38:27we'll go to
38:28this person
38:29in the back
38:29and just
38:30because we
38:31are recording
38:31I will
38:32repeat your
38:33question
38:33if I can
38:34hear it
38:34so please
38:34go ahead
38:35go ahead
39:09So, I guess the primary question from Mr. Kushner and Mr. Stilberg, was there ever
39:15any consideration to using the vote as sort of a spine of the film and returning to it
39:22periodically while mixing in the rest of the narrative or was it always intended to culminate
39:28with that?
39:29No, it was always intended to be what you pretty much saw the spine of the narrative
39:34is not only the acquisition of the necessary votes to pass the amendment but also when
39:42to pass the amendment and when to end the war and that is the huge weight that Lincoln
39:47balanced, the great balancing act of Abraham Lincoln in the last four months of his life
39:52and the blood left on his hands because the vote, you know, it was necessary to abolish
40:00slavery before the war ended and they abolished slavery and signed it into law February 1st.
40:06It hadn't been ratified yet but it was signed by Lincoln.
40:09February 1st, war didn't end for another three months and that's a lot of blood on his hands
40:14and that was a big sort of moral balance in the story.
40:18I mean, actually, when we first met with Daniel in Ireland, there were a couple of flashbacks.
40:24The vote was always at the end of the segment of the movie.
40:31There were a couple of small flashbacks to other things and Daniel was the person who said,
40:39do we really need to do flashbacks, which immediately we both agreed, let's get rid of the flashbacks.
40:45I mean, because there's a sense of being in the here and now in the film that I think we
40:50were all
40:51consciously and unconsciously working towards.
40:53Also, the struggle to tell this story clearly when you have to sort of catch everybody in the audience
41:01up on the Alice of the Looking Glass world of the Democrats being reactionaries
41:06and the Republicans being a progressive party and then, you know, two-thirds majority needed to pass a vote
41:13in the House and the Senate and all of those little specifics and we worked all the way through this
41:19summer
41:19with Stephen sort of, you know, maybe we need a card here, maybe we need a tweak here
41:25to try and make it really something that people could follow
41:28and I think that in addition to the fact that we liked the way that it built to the, you
41:32know,
41:33the big basketball game at the end with this little team winning the state championship,
41:37we also, I think it would have made what was already a formidable challenge
41:44of this fairly unfamiliar terrain even more difficult to follow.
41:48So we never considered that.
41:52There's a hand right over here. Yes?
42:15Yeah, sure. Just essentially the question was, I guess, making this film in these times
42:23and with, I guess you could also note, another president from Illinois,
42:29lawyer turned politician, made his secretary of state, or made his political rival,
42:35his secretary of state, pushed controversial legislation through in his first term
42:40and on and on and on.
42:43Was there consciousness?
42:44Actually knows how to write a sentence.
42:45Pardon me?
42:46A president who actually knows how to write.
42:47Right, right, right.
42:48Just sitting there.
42:49So was that something that you were deliberately emphasizing?
42:53No, because the film was written during the Bush administration.
43:01Absolutely true.
43:04When we were at the Kennedy Center Honors, President Bush came over to me
43:08along with Congolese Rice, and they had both devoured Doris' book,
43:13and they were asking me all about what part of the book we were going to try to make into
43:18a movie.
43:19And at that point, we didn't have 100% agreement on exactly what part of the story
43:25of the passage of the 13th Amendment we were going to tell,
43:27or even were we going to tell anything about the Emancipation Proclamation.
43:32There were a lot of things that we were still juggling,
43:35but it was interesting that they had both read the book
43:38and didn't quite know how to answer that question at the time.
43:42She read the book.
43:47I don't know.
43:49I don't know, but...
43:58We'll go over here.
44:00Yes.
44:11So what was...
44:12How did you arrive at the voice, Mr. Delis?
44:14Luckily for me, there are no recordings from that time,
44:20but there is a really amazing national archive of early recordings,
44:25and I think the earliest of them are probably around the turn of the century,
44:31early 1900s.
44:33And I suppose, really, it's looking for clues.
44:38That's one of the sort of early stages of things,
44:42is to look for clues.
44:43And in this case, they're pretty clear ones because the early influences in his life were the first few years
44:53in Kentucky,
44:55followed by Indiana, and then Springfield, Illinois.
45:01And so I managed to find some recordings from the counties in those three states where he spent that early,
45:10very influential part of his life.
45:11But we don't really know necessarily that people in that part of the world spoke in exactly the same way
45:18as they do now.
45:19So it's all really up for grabs.
45:25And what I tend to do, because the voice is such a, whenever I'm working,
45:32it's such a deep personal reflection of character that it's not something I would seek to find or choose to
45:39go looking for at an early stage.
45:41In fact, I never really consciously do, but I work my way kind of through, across that line, towards something.
45:49And at a certain moment, if I'm lucky, I begin to hear a voice.
45:54The accumulation of what I understand about that life at a certain moment allows me to hear a sound.
46:04And it may well be the wrong one, but if it is, generally, I'm stuck with it because, but then
46:12that internal sound,
46:15the sound as it would be of your own internal monologue, then if I like, if I live with it
46:20for a bit and that sound, I like that sound, it pleases me,
46:23then I try to reproduce it, which is a, that can become a problem in itself.
46:28But that's, I know that's probably, hasn't answered your question, but, sorry.
46:36We have time for two, last two questions, so we'll go to this person over here, gentlemen, go ahead.
46:42Yes.
46:43Brilliant, so really, even just down in the small detail, about the hundred and something extra small part of the
46:49world,
46:50how do you love each individual's role, but I'll ask you one question instead of off the topic.
46:56When are you going to make a question?
46:58So the question is for Mr. Spielberg, when are you going to make a Western?
47:02Well, didn't you like Cowboys and Aliens?
47:07I don't say that sarcastically.
47:09I actually enjoy the film, and my company made that film.
47:12I didn't make the picture, my company did.
47:14But look, I've been looking to make a Western for a long time.
47:17A Western, a musical, so whichever comes first.
47:20I don't know.
47:22Got to be the right one.
47:25And finally, let's go way in the back.
47:28Give somebody a chance, or even up here.
47:31Yes, go ahead.
47:32Yes.
47:37We got a gentleman up here.
47:40Yes, go ahead.
47:41Thank you all for doing this, first off, and happy birthday.
47:46Soon, thank you.
47:47You said there's so many different versions and so many different rewrites,
47:50and you said you went through so many different sections of the story.
47:54And, you know, it doesn't feel like a lot of different pieces.
47:58It feels very complete.
47:58What were you looking for to get to this, if you have a question in mind,
48:04if you're thinking about, and you're putting it all together?
48:08Was there a driving question that you wanted to answer
48:11as you tried to figure out how to approach the script,
48:14Mr. Kochaner, Mr. Spielberg?
48:16Well, I think the thing that was the most interesting part of any,
48:23let's say, a Lincoln portrait,
48:25is how do we want to see Lincoln?
48:27Do we want to see him as a monument already?
48:30Do we want to see him like a statuary?
48:32Do we want to see him as we expect to see him,
48:35so famous that he's almost invisible?
48:38Or do we want to see him as a thriving, living,
48:43involved, enthralled human being with all of his faults
48:45and all of his flaws and his distance with one son
48:50and closeness to the other
48:53and irreconcilable love with and for his wife?
48:57And how do you do all that in a length of time
49:00that isn't a miniseries?
49:02And Tony and I felt that we needed to hang it on an issue
49:05so we could see him as a working president.
49:08We weren't interested in turning him into a deity.
49:11He's been deified enough.
49:13We were interested in bringing him off his marble pedestal
49:17and rolling up his sleeves and getting the most important job
49:21that I think anyone has ever done with our Constitution,
49:24which is to abolish slavery once and for all.
49:28And because that happened to happen just before the Civil War ended
49:32and just before Lincoln ended,
49:34it just seemed like this was the narrative force of history
49:39that drove us to follow precisely the historical record
49:43in being able to dramatize and humanize Lincoln
49:46all within a reasonable amount of running time.
49:55I'll just add,
49:57the huge long script was January, February, March, and April.
50:02And when I sent the whole monstrous thing to Stephen,
50:06I thought that he was going to want to make The Last Month,
50:09which was when Lincoln went down to City Point
50:11and was there for the end of the war.
50:12And it's very cinematic.
50:14It has boats on the river and not battle scenes,
50:18but the aftermath of battles
50:19and all sorts of really extraordinary visual things going on.
50:23And I was certain that the first part of the script,
50:25which was the fight for the amendment,
50:27was going to be the least interesting.
50:29And Stephen immediately said,
50:30that's my favorite part of the script.
50:32And so gradually everything else fell away.
50:36And it's been an enormous...
50:38This is only my second film.
50:39It's been an enormously eye-opening
50:43and even humbling experience
50:44that I didn't know what you were up to the whole time.
50:50But now that I see the movie,
50:54this was the perfect story
50:55because it does give the possibility
50:57of seeing him in an enclosed space
51:00and doing things like putting wood on the fire
51:04and so on and the pacing of it and everything.
51:05It's just been...
51:07He had the whole thing in his head the whole time.
51:11And it's an amazing thing.
51:12It's why it's a great privilege to work with him.
51:15Thank you, Tony.
51:16But it was also on paper, please...
51:18Tony's being very kind,
51:19but this was a script
51:23that we didn't want to change.
51:25Even when Tony kept wanting to rewrite the script,
51:27our big job was,
51:28Tony, it's great.
51:29Don't change too much.
51:31Because Tony's very fluid about things
51:32and he hears something
51:33and then he hears another way to say something,
51:35which was very valuable throughout the entire process.
51:38But this was, I think,
51:41just prior to shooting,
51:42I would say just about a week
51:44before we started shooting,
51:47we had a lock on the script
51:49and we all went to Richmond
51:53tremendously confident
51:54that we had a great thing in our hands,
51:57a great play that was going to be a movie.
52:00It was sort of always a movie,
52:01but there's so much literature
52:03in this particular story
52:05that we could then focus on other things
52:08because the words were there.
52:10We could then focus on character,
52:11on atmosphere,
52:12on lighting,
52:14on set dressing,
52:16on just the whole feeling of hair
52:18and makeup and wardrobe.
52:19We could just focus on
52:20all of these amazing skills
52:23that combine to make any movie
52:25that we work on
52:25and that we see possible.
52:28Not just successful,
52:29but possible.
52:31Well, all that is left to say, I guess,
52:33is thank you guys so much
52:34for being here and for doing this
52:36and for a great film.
52:37Thank you very much.
52:38Thank you very much.
52:43You're welcome.
52:45You
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