Jackie Earle Haley Joins ‘Lincoln’

Story by Nick Newman on
http://thefilmstage.com/news/jackie-earle-haley-joins-lincoln/

With a release date set for sometime after November 6th, 2012, Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln is, by all accounts, moving briskly toward the start of production. Just in time for the director’s comments about what he’ll be portraying in his long-awaited biopic, Deadline informs us that Jackie Earle Haley will be appearing in the film as Alexander Stephens.

If you’ll take yourself back to fifth grade history for a moment, Stephens was Vice President of The Confederate States of America, serving under Jefferson Davis. This association means that his relationship with Lincoln was, as you can probably imagine, a little contentious. As Deadline notes, Stephens’ most famous moment probably came when he made a speech that called slavery the “natural condition of blacks and the cornerstone of the Confederacy.” (Doesn’t this quote alone make him a perfect choice, considering his recent affinity for playing awful people?)

Haley made a comeback in 2006 with his incredible turn in Little Children, followed by one of the best performances in any superhero movie as Rorschach in Watchmen. He slowed down a little after that adaptation, with his most notable turn since then being Shutter Island — but he was only in one scene. (I’ve tried to not mention A Nightmare on Elm Street out of respect for the man.) With Dark Shadows currently shooting, the combination of that (almost assuredly horrible) film and this could serve as a way of getting out of a tiny slump.

Also starring Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Strathairn, John Hawkes, and Lee Pace, Lincoln will open in late 2012.

Are you happy to see Haley jump on board Lincoln?