First Look: Daniel Day-Lewis Elected President Abraham Lincoln

Actor shows off his gravitas in shot from upcoming film about the assassinated leader

By Erik Pedersen Aug 07, 2012 10:58 PMTags
Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln David James, SMPSP

Penny for your thoughts, Daniel Day-Lewis.

Looking just like the image on the one-cent coin, the actor appears to have fully taken on the role of the 16th president for Steven Spielberg's upcoming Lincoln. (And he did it without having to slay a single vampire.)

Of course, we have gotten an unofficial look at the actor in character once or twice, but this latest look pretty much ensures that we will be casting our vote at the box office when the film is released in November. But if you needed another reason, just check out the rest of the talent that signed on.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones and Jackie Earle Haley bring all their three-named charms to the project, as well as a host of excellent and unexpected Civil War reenactors like Sally Field, David Straithairn, John Hawkes, Lee Pace, Mad Men's Jared Harris and—our favorite surprise casting—James Spader as a smarmy rich teen oddball lawyer political operative.

The film tracks the last month's of the president's life, and is based on the work of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin with a script by Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner.

"Our movie is really about a working leader who must make tough decisions and get things done in the face of overwhelming opposition," director Spielberg told Entertainment Weekly.

That sounds way harder than battling vampires.