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I've already ranted about my desire to see Steven Spielberg's Lincoln passion project not die. But while that version of Honest Abe isn't going anywhere, another one is. However, this one is all about the assassination. The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog reports that Robert Redford is gearing up to direct The Conspirator -- penned by James Solomon.

But this isn't a Booth tale. The film will detail the story of Mary Surratt -- a boardinghouse owner in DC and Confederate sympathizer said to have conspired to kill President Lincoln by giving John Wilkes Booth and David Herold (his accomplice) weapons after the assassination at Ford's Theater. She was later arrested, sentenced to death, and became the first woman executed by the US federal government. Her son was also zeroed in on for his involvement, but while brought to trial, he was never convicted. (Just to add another familial twist -- she was the first cousin, once removed, of F. Scott Fitzgerald.)

On it's own, this should make for a good feature, and it's nice to see an angle and person not usually brought to the big screen. On the other, it's a shame that we can get an assassination biopic in the works, but not one on the man's life and accomplishments. But maybe things will change with Redford? Right now the cast is being assembled, and James McAvoy is said to be in line for one of the leads.

In a movie world where we get a riiidiculous number of copycat films and retreads, Lincoln was my breath of fresh air. I was ready to see Honest Abe rule the big screen like he does the halls of Presidential history. He doesn't get much play, and now is the best time to give him center stage. Just last week was the bicentennial of his birth. John Adams recently got a kickass miniseries that was pretty darned popular. With Barack Obama as president, memories of Lincoln have increased. All the signs point to yes.

Except for the money, that is. In these troubled times, not even Steven Spielberg is safe. DreamWorks is really hurting right now, and as The Big Money reports, money woes have stopped Lincoln in its tracks, and "cost Spielberg the right to partner on his passion project." Over the weekend, he hoped that Paramount would take kindly to Abe, pick up the project, and hire him to direct it. But as of Wednesday, a source says that Paramount declined.

Step up, Disney. Please. You've got a Hall of Presidents, and as the report states, Jim Hill recently blogged that Disney was thinking of having Liam Neeson (the man in line to be Lincoln) be the new voice of Abe for the attraction. It's all perfect! It just has to happen. I fear that if things don't get moving now, they never will. This is the best time for Lincoln to hit screens, and the window is slipping by in the blink of an eye.

Don't we deserve this? We've put up with the unoriginality, the remakes, the re-imaginings, the hordes of competing projects about one story, and all the small slices of life and history that Hollywood zeroes in on. It would be quite sad to kill the projects rich with material and potential, just to be monotonous.

We've known for a while that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg were collaborating on the forthcoming Tintin trilogy, with Spielberg to direct the first film (which is in preproduction and starts shooting in September) and Jackson the second. There had previously been no word on who would helm the third film, and there's still no official word, but Spielberg recently suggested that he and Jackson might co-direct it.

"We are going to make three Tintin movies back-to-back," Spielberg said "I'll direct the first one, Peter will direct the second one. We'll probably co-direct the third one."

It's hard to come up with something to say about this kind of news, other than "that's awesome." Obviously this would be a monumental collaboration, teaming together two of the most prodigiously skilled filmmakers working in the mainstream. The Tintin franchise is Spielberg's first foray into large-scale motion capture (I think he made some use of the technique in A.I. Artificial Intelligence) and Jackson, of course, is an expert after Lord of the Rings and King Kong. And if there's one thing Spielberg knows it's how to finesse a successful family film. The whole thing is perfect, I tell you.

What this news does to the long-awaited Lincoln biopic (see here for a recent update) is anybody's guess. If the thing can get off the ground, I guess Spielberg might have some time between the Tintins.

[hat tip: SlashFilm]

There are two reasons I find this (as yet unconfirmed) story interesting. One is that I'll soon be writing my review of Brett Morgen's new documentary Chicago 10, which comes out next week. The other is that I've been thinking about the 2009 Oscars (I like to jump ahead), which I presumed would include a number of nominations for Steven Spielberg's next film. For a few months now, we've believed that film would be, like Morgen's, about the trial of the "Chicago 7" and would be fittingly titled The Trial of the Chicago 7. First we heard the director was interested in the script, written by Charlie Wilson's War scribe Aaron Sorkin. Then we got that crazy news that Sacha Baron Cohen would play Abbie Hoffman. Finally we heard more people, specifically Colin Hanks, Jeff Daniels and Philip Seymour Hoffman, were joining the cast. However, now we have word from Collider that Spielberg "has decided to move on and will not be making the movie."

Note: It has since come out that the film has been delayed, not completely dumped.

Well, Sacha Baron Cohen has already made sure that he won't be haunted by Borat jokes for the rest of his life, so it was only a matter of time before he started to branch out. First was his foray into musicals, and now it's time for something just a little more 'serious'. Once again Cohen has gotten lucky and he's caught the eye of another great director. The Times Online has reported that Cohen signed to play 60's counter-culture icon Abbie Hoffman for Steven Spielberg. Cohen is the perfect choice to play the self-described "Jewish Road Warrior, communo-anarchist". They both seemed to appreciate a good prank, and hey -- the two even look alike.

The film will be called The Trial of the Chicago Seven and was written by Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War) with presumably Spielberg directing. The story will center on the infamous trial of seven men for riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. Hoffman was an activist and author who, along with Bobby Seale and Jerry Rubin, were put on trial for conspiracy and inciting to riot. He was eventually cleared of the charges and was still a celebrity at the time of his death in 1989.

According to the Times, Cohen is set to receive five million dollars for the role that he had to be "talked into" by Spielberg. It was probably wise for Cohen to say yes, since apparently some have lived to regret turning down the directing legend. Cohen already has Brüno lined up as his next film. It will be another 'character' comedy; about a gay, Austrian fashion correspondent. As for Spielberg, he has already started wrapping up work on Indy 4 and there is still the Lincoln biopic with Liam Neeson. Plus, he has already lined up the sci-fi film, Interstellar. So it could be some time before The Trial of the Chicago Seven makes it's way to production. If you can't wait to get your fix of civil disobedience though, you can always check out the animated documentary Chicago 10 when it opens in March 2008.

[via The View From Here]

Though we haven't heard much about Steven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln biopic, Lincoln, Newsweek seems to think Sally Field has been cast as Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. All we know so far is that Liam Neeson has signed to play Lincoln, and according to IMDb, Marcia Gay Harden was rumored to be up for the role of Mary Todd. But things seemed to be put on hold once Spielberg decided to direct Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, and with a strike looming, we weren't sure whether the director would have time to helm another film -- let alone which film that would be.

But in a Newsweek article discussing a new exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, "Mary Todd Lincoln: First Lady of Controversy," they come right out and say that Liam Neeson and Sally Field will be playing Lincoln and Mary Todd respectively in the new Spielberg film. In her later years, Mary Todd was committed to an insane asylum, but only after three of her four kids had died and her husband was shot to death while she held his hand. But was she really insane? Spielberg will base his film on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. According to the Amazon description, "Team of Rivals doesn't just tell the story of Abraham Lincoln. It is a multiple biography of the entire team of personal and political competitors that he put together to lead the country through its greatest crisis. Here, Doris Kearns Goodwin profiles five of the key players in her book, four of whom contended for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination and all of whom later worked together in Lincoln's cabinet." Sally Field is currently starring on the TV show Brothers & Sisters (for which she just won an Emmy), and so for her to be able to take on the role, I assume she'll have to do so while the show is on hiatus. As of now, nothing is official.