Steven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln pic will definitely have a run for its money if it ever gets made. Robert Redford is cooking up one hell of a roster for his drama The Conspirator, which focuses on Mary Surratt's involvement with the assassination. Now Variety reports that the filmmaker has lined up the rest of his cast. First, as we already learned: Robin Wright Penn will play Mary Surratt, "the only female charged in the conspiracy to kill" Lincoln. She was said to have given John Wilkes Booth and David Herold weapons. James McAvoy, meanwhile, will play Frederick Aiken, the war hero and man tapped to defend her in court. And now:Tom Wilkinson -- Reverdy Johnson, a Surratt sympathizer and mentor to Allen, who was the former attorney general and U.S. senator.
Evan Rachel Wood -- Anna Surratt, daughter of Mary. She later had to fight for her mother's remains.
Kevin Kline -- Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's War Secretary who took charge of the crime scene after the assassination. He was very involved in the entire proceeding, including concocting a rather unique and painful hood for the accomplices while on trial.
Alexis Bledel -- Sarah Weston, the young Aiken's wife.
Justin Long -- "a role" ... The trade outlined everyone's role but his. Will this be, I dare say, Lincoln? (hah.)
Frankly, Kline would be enough to sell me, but I'm impressed both by the fresh story picked (and all the aspects Redford has to choose from), and the heaps of talent laid on it -- a mixture of names we'd expect and some surprises as well. Could this be a big twist for Long, perchance?
1. I would guess Long would be cast as either David Herold or Lewis Paine. My money would be on Herold since Paine was a much larger man. The age also is about right.
Posted at 10:44AM on Oct 16th 2009 by Scotty Ice