On the set of Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s next presidential biopic, it seems that he wasn’t the only one who got into character. According to a new piece in Time* *, British-Irish actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays the 16th president of the United States in the film, insisted on maintaining his Lincoln accent whenever he was on set, to the point where English co-stars were asked to lose their English accents for fear of “pulling him off” his persona. In addition to speaking in character as the Great Emancipator, the Oscar winner also mailed at least one parcel and many text messages in character.
The actor, who is notorious for immersing himself in his characters, is said to have texted co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln, who would answer in kind as first wife Mary Todd Lincoln.
Sally Field, who portrays Mary Todd, Lincoln’s wife, says Time, “I’d hear that twinkle-twinkle on my phone, and [Day-Lewis] would have sent me some ridiculous limerick.” “‘Yours, A.,’ he’d sign it.” I’d respond like Mary, chastising him for squandering his time when he might have been doing something more helpful.”
It may seem strange, if not absurd, that an actor signs his messages as the character he is portraying in a film, but this is why Daniel Day-Lewis is great.
“Daniel and I didn’t really speak—we agreed not to,” Emily Watson, who co-starred with Mr. Day-Lewis in The Boxer, told Time: “I found that difficult. I found it quite lonely and isolating and a bit scary.”
Meanwhile, Spielberg claims to have received an anonymous box containing a Pearlcorder tape recorder in the mail. He heard Shakespeare and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address read in the president’s voice when he switched it on. The filmmaker remembers a “beautiful voice.”
“I wanted that voice to read me a book. It came with a letter that said, ‘After you listen to this, would you ring me up and we’ll have a natter?’ I immediately got on the telephone and said, ‘Who is this?’”
We’d be ecstatic to get a text from Honest Abe, particularly if it said anything like this:
“4 Square & 7 beers ago, want 2 go 2 fords theatre 2 nite? LOLZ ☺”
‘Lincoln’ will be released in select cinemas on November 9th, followed by a countrywide release on November 16th.
