"Steven Spielberg is set to challenge the popular perception of Abraham Lincoln -- with a biopic based on a forthcoming book by a former Harvard history professor that portrays him as a manic depressive and a racist, the London Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said that Spielberg's DreamWorks studio bought the rights to the biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose previous works include Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream and The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga. In an interview with the Times, Johnson acknowledged that much of the material in the book about Lincoln is not likely to be "palatable to the American public who like their saints saintly." The newspaper said that Spielberg plans to begin shooting "battle scenes" for the movie next fall after completing production of AI and Minority Report." (Studio Briefing 3/19/01)
