Some movies are fortunate enough to have their whole ensemble be absolutely stellar.  And that is why Lincoln wins with the most Oscar nominations this year.

imdb.com

Check out the full nomination list from IMDB:

I mean, look at it!  It’s nominated for all aspects of film-making!  It’s no secret that Lincoln is going to be a tough contender to beat at the Academy Awards.  Daniel Day-Lewis has already won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama and the film won Movie of the Year at the AFI (American Film Institute) Awards.  And let’s face it, Day-Lewis has won half the times he’s been nominated!  If this were the Kentucky Derby, I’d put my money on the horse named Lincoln!

The prize players are of course, Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role, Sally Field, playing his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, up for Best Supporting Actor!

But there are quite a few in this cast I would call out!  For starters, who would have ever thought James Spader had it in him?!  Spader plays W.N. Bilbo, a lawyer and lobbyist who fought for the 13th amendment.  The last time I saw a movie and was like, “Yah, James Spader!” was Stargate!  Kudos to him on his acting in this film!

John Hawkes – CC Wikipedia Commons

Standing beside him is John Hawkes, a particular favorite of my boyfriend and I, who some of you may recognize from the indie flick Me and You and Everyone We Know.  Not to mention his performance as Sol Star on HBO’s Deadwood series, and then as Teardrop in the 2011 Oscar nominated Winter’s Bone.  If you ask me, he’s one to watch!  A second film Hawkes played the lead in is up for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for costar Helen Hunt, called The Sessions.  But in Lincoln, Hawkes plays Robert Latham, quite the dignified historical figure.  Latham was a lawyer who became well known for winning a land case for the Eastern Cherokee Nation, and then became a U.S. Senator who fought against child labor and also gave us the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 which amounted to our current banking system and tender, the U.S. dollar.

Rounding out the trio of behind-the-scenes vote capturers, was Tim Blake Nelson as Richard Schell.  Schell was another Senator, and later served in the House of Representatives.  I’ve been a fan of Tim Blake Nelson since he did his own singing in O Brother, Where Art Thou.

And lastly, I had to smile when I saw Hal Holbrook on the screen portraying Preston Blair.  He’s an Emmy and Tony Award winning actor, but he captured my heart portraying the older Jacob in 2011’s film version of Water for Elephants, a movie and book I enjoyed so much I smashed my face into a circus wagon to prove it!

The film Lincoln, I’ve heard, does shed the famous president in a very sunny light.  I still think it’s incredibly well done and will always be prevalent to us as a society.  It depicts the time right before Lincoln passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.  147 years ago, the country was torn with the civil war.  Death counts rose everyday.  A possible peace treaty was in the works, and yet the amendment may not have passed had that treaty come to be first.  Everything was about to change.

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Interestingly enough, you can get a different perspective about the president with the release of Jennifer Chiaverini’s historical fiction, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker.  It just published January 15th, and it’s on my To Read Shelf.

I caught the title in the newest issue of BookPage.  Chiaverini used the memoir written by Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, Behind the Scenes:  Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, to write her new work.  Keckley was a former slave turned dressmaker for society’s elite, eventually becoming the First Lady’s seamstress.  While employed by the Lincolns, she witnessed her share of private moments between the tumultuous couple, and apparently the release of her memoir caused quite the scandal resulting in Mrs. Lincoln severing all ties with her after its publication!

I’m intrigued, are you?!!

Your take!  Have you seen Lincoln?  What did you think?  Do you think a film about this period in history is still relevant?  

What about Chiaverini’s new book?  Don’t you want to know what Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley really thought about the Lincolns?