This has been one of the dumber fabricated controversies in recent times, at least as far as the film industry goes. A short while ago Robert Redford revealed he was going to shoot The Conspirator, which will be about a woman who is charged with conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln and the ensuing trail. Obviously such a film doesn’t really have much to do with Lincoln himself considering its premise is based on his death. That didn’t stop the trades and other outlets from pretending this project somehow competed with the Lincoln biopic Steven Spielberg has long been planning for Liam Neeson to star in. A biopic tends to necessitate its subject being alive for the film’s duration, so it takes about four seconds to figure out that these aren’t competing for story material at all. Spielberg’s film would focus on the Civil War period and the toll it took on Lincoln. That script is being revised by Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Munich) while Spielberg focuses on his contemporary take on Harvey.
Anyway, Variety spoke to Spielberg and he stated the obvious, that he’s still planning the film and that Redford’s film isn’t similar at all. Nonetheless, expect these two films to be discussed in the same breath for a while longer.
Redford’s The Conspirator also recently announced its lead actors with Robin Wright Penn as the accused co-conspirator and James McAvoy playing her attorney. This film is supposed to head into production next month.
