Daniel Day-Lewis To Star In Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln'

This is big stuff: DreamWorks has just sent out a press release announcing that Daniel Day-Lewis will star as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's long-planned and oft-delayed Lincoln.

Read the full press release after the break.

Looks like Robopocalypse won't be Steven Spielberg's next film after Tintin and War Horse. Robopocalypse is scheduled to shoot in 2012, and the shoot will follow Lincoln, which is set to shoot in fall 2011 for a fourth-quarter 2012 release date. Talk of the 85th Academy Awards ceremony in 2013 officially begins now with the powerhouse pairing of Spielberg and DDL.

Liam Neeson was long attached to topline Lincoln, but finally dropped out in July, saying that he's past his sell-by date, implying that he is too old to play the figure. The casting of Daniel Day-Lewis should please just about everyone, however. It's an exciting choice for the film. And this is great news for fans of the director; after a couple years in which it seemed he was struggling to get a film financed he's now in a position to have four rapid-fire releases from 2011 to 2013.

Here's the full release:

LOS ANGELES – (Business Wire) Two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis will star as the 16th President of the United States in DreamWorks Studios' Lincoln to be directed by Steven Spielberg. The announcement was made today by Spielberg and Stacey Snider, Co-Chairman and CEO of DreamWorks Studios.

"Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest of actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema's distant future. I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln," said Steven Spielberg. "Throughout his career, he has been exceptionally selective in his choice of material," added Stacey Snider, "which makes us feel even more fortunate that he has chosen to join with us for Lincoln."

Based on the best-selling book, Team of Rivals, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the screenplay has been written by the Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner, and Academy Award nominated writer Tony Kushner. It will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg.

It is anticipated that the film will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War.

Doris Kearns Goodwin won her Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time, the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the home front in World War II. Kushner's prize was for his play Angels in America, which later became an Emmy Award-winning television special. He had previously worked with Spielberg on Munich for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Filming is expected to begin in the fall of 2011 for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 through Disney's Touchstone distribution label.