"Lincoln defined a great leader," says Spielberg.
"He stayed steady and true on his moral course, towards decency and civil rights and freedom. He never veered from that.
Spielberg launched his project after meeting Goodwin in 1999. He immediately secured the rights to her book, even though she was only halfway done writing it.
His first pass to persuade Day-Lewis to play the role was unsuccessful. Day-Lewis formally turned him down in an elegant letter written in long-hand.
"He said 'I could never play Abraham Lincoln,' " says Spielberg, recalling the lunch conversation. "That it was just too intimidating. 'What if I don't succeed? I don't want to bring down the image of a great man.' "
Spielberg moved onto other projects. That was before DiCaprio's intervention spurned a Day-Lewis reversal.
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Lincoln is shown visibly aging in the four-month span of the film, and he has trouble sleeping when dealing with the terrible war. Spielberg and Day-Lewis kept the same kind of late hours during the shoot, for very different reasons. The two would often text each other at 3 a.m. from their respective houses with interesting historical notes.
"I feel like I know the man now," he says. "I feel like I've lived with him. I've spent time with him. I feel like I have heard a story. Not the only story that should be told of his life — there is so much room to tell so many stories of his life."
Whether Spielberg ever decides to revisit one of those chapters remains up in the air. The prolific artist is next slated to direct the sci-fi action flick Robopocalypse. And any further Lincoln projects would certainly rely on a certain, sometimes reluctant actor.
"I could, but not without Daniel Day-Lewis," Spielberg says when asked if he's up for another Lincoln foray. "I would never do it again without him."
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