Steven Spielberg may get Lincoln into theaters this year

The rumor du jour is that Steven Spielberg has shopped around the possibility of getting his long-planned biopic Lincoln into theaters later this year. Tony Kushner, who co-wrote Munich for Spielberg, told a recent panel that a decision would be made next week if the movie will be fast-tracked for a Christmas release.

Granted, it was around this time last year that we heard of plans for Spielberg to get The Trial of the Chicago 7 into theaters by the end of the year as a prestige foil to the new Indiana Jones. (Now it’s not even clear if he will direct it at all.) But that deal fell apart because of the writers’ strike, and Spielberg has been so tied up in business drama and the early stages of his next event movie that it seems plausible a smaller production this year would suit him.

Besides, the script apparently only includes two crucial months of Lincoln’s life, and the idea of Lincoln as a national icon is especially potent now because of our new president and the parallels inevitably drawn between the two. Spielberg is also known for swift turnaround between production and final cut.

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