Following the trailer preview that hit the web earlier this week is the first official theatrical trailer for Steven Spielberg's monumental biopic simply called Lincoln, which examines the final days of the president's life as he sought the abolition of slavery in the newly unified United States.
Steeped in the heavy air of Steven Spielberg-ian film techniques, and with a cast that includes Daniel Day-Lewis as the titular 16th president, Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as their son, Robert Lincoln it would take a miracle for this one to not be mentioned come awards season.
It could just be the way the trailer is constructed with sweeping crane shots, dramatically lit grand speeches, weighty oratories, and that ever-present John Williams score, but it seems more than ever this one was constructed more for our consideration as a mythologized look at Lincoln than it was for factual relevance. Particularly interesting considering that Spielberg said via a Google chat during the debut of the trailer that his take would be more about tone and content that strives to make a man out of the monument. Noticeably missing from the trailer is an emphasis on the disdain many people held for the president.
Again, it could just be more of what we're not seeing in the trailer, but through the years, the president's reputation has consistently shifted between mythological savior and contentious racist who only signed the Emancipation Proclamation to ensure Europe wouldn't side with the South. He certainly had plenty of enemies, from Northerners, Southerners, blacks, whites, East coast elites, and Prairie westerners, but from what we do see, that doesn't appear to be the "tone" of Spielberg's film. Now that would be a gutsy filmmaker.
We can't wait to see what is in store for us when Lincoln hits theaters on November 9th, just in time to hitch on to the Oscar buzz train, but in the meantime, watch the official trailer for Lincoln below.