David Strathairn, winnaar van een Emmy en genomineerd voor een Oscar (voor zijn rol in Good Night, and Good Luck), is gecast als staatssecretaris William Seward in Steven Spielbergs Lincoln. De titelrol is voor Daniel Day-Lewis en het is de bedoeling van de film ergens laat in 2012 uitkomt. De opnames beginnen in de herfst in Virginia.
Spielberg zegt het volgende over Strathairn:
Throughout his career, David Strathairn has consistently delivered performances of strength and character. Thats why I am so pleased that he will portray the Secretary of State, who became such a dominant figure in Lincolns team of rivals cabinet.
Seward was de gouverneur van New York en daarbij senator en staatssecretaris van de VS onder Lincoln en Andrew Jackson. Hij stond bekend als een uitgesproken tegenstander van slavernij en als één van de meest loyale leden van het kabinet van Lincoln.
Doris Kearns Goodwin schreef Team of Rivals, waarop Tony Kushners scenario van Lincoln is gebaseerd. Hij omschrijft Seward als volgt:
A celebrated senator from New York for more than a decade and governor of his state for two terms before going to Washington, Seward was certain he was going to receive his partys nomination for president in 1860. The weekend before the convention in Chicago opened he had already composed a first draft of the valedictory speech he expected to make to the Senate, assuming that he would resign his position as soon as the decision in Chicago was made. His mortification at not having received the nomination never fully abated, and when he was offered his cabinet post as secretary of state he intended to have a major role in choosing the remaining cabinet members, conferring upon himself a position in the new government more commanding than that of Lincoln himself. He quickly realized the futility of his plan to relegate the president to a figurehead role. Though the feisty New Yorker would continue to debate numerous issues with Lincoln in the years ahead, exactly as Lincoln had hoped and needed him to do, Seward would become his closest friend, advisor, and ally in the administration. More than any other cabinet member Seward appreciated Lincolns peerless skill in balancing factions both within his administration and in the country at large.
Verder onder meer rollen voor Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Hal Holbrook en James Spader.
Spielberg zegt het volgende over Strathairn:
Throughout his career, David Strathairn has consistently delivered performances of strength and character. Thats why I am so pleased that he will portray the Secretary of State, who became such a dominant figure in Lincolns team of rivals cabinet.
Seward was de gouverneur van New York en daarbij senator en staatssecretaris van de VS onder Lincoln en Andrew Jackson. Hij stond bekend als een uitgesproken tegenstander van slavernij en als één van de meest loyale leden van het kabinet van Lincoln.
Doris Kearns Goodwin schreef Team of Rivals, waarop Tony Kushners scenario van Lincoln is gebaseerd. Hij omschrijft Seward als volgt:
A celebrated senator from New York for more than a decade and governor of his state for two terms before going to Washington, Seward was certain he was going to receive his partys nomination for president in 1860. The weekend before the convention in Chicago opened he had already composed a first draft of the valedictory speech he expected to make to the Senate, assuming that he would resign his position as soon as the decision in Chicago was made. His mortification at not having received the nomination never fully abated, and when he was offered his cabinet post as secretary of state he intended to have a major role in choosing the remaining cabinet members, conferring upon himself a position in the new government more commanding than that of Lincoln himself. He quickly realized the futility of his plan to relegate the president to a figurehead role. Though the feisty New Yorker would continue to debate numerous issues with Lincoln in the years ahead, exactly as Lincoln had hoped and needed him to do, Seward would become his closest friend, advisor, and ally in the administration. More than any other cabinet member Seward appreciated Lincolns peerless skill in balancing factions both within his administration and in the country at large.
Verder onder meer rollen voor Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Hal Holbrook en James Spader.
