Spielberg Attacks ‘Honest Abe’

Steven Spielberg is set to make his first biopic, an adaptation of a forthcoming book about president Abraham Lincoln. Instead of the 'Great Emancipator', Lincoln will be revealed as a racist and manic depressive, according to a report in the Sunday Times. Speaking about Spielberg's decision to make the film, a spokesperson for Dreamworks said "This is a project close to his heart but he is not interested in a sugary confection". Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the optioned biography, concluded that Lincoln and his socialite wife Mary Todd were not quite the honourable figures they are normally viewed as. "There's more to say, not all palatable to the American public who like their saints saintly" she commented. As well as his disintegrating marriage, Lincoln is also said to have wanted to take the slaves and "pack them all back to Africa", whilst his wife's family actually owned slave plantations. Spielberg, not noted for his historical accuracy in such films as Saving Private Ryan and Amistad, hopes to begin filming late this year, after finishing work on A.I and the Tom Cruise-starrer Minority Report.