Liam Neeson Explores the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln

Lately, Liam Neeson has been making the rounds talking about his new movie with Pierce Brosnan, "Seraphim Falls." In "Seraphim," Neeson’s character hunts down a man (Brosnan) against whom he holds a great grudge, this taking place just after the end of the Civil War. Ironically, Neeson’s next project is about the President who led the North as it battled against the Confederate South and the United States tore itself apart. "Lincoln" will be directed by Steven Spielberg and star Neeson as Honest Abe himself, and Marcia Gay Harden is currently rumored to be up for Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd.

ComingSoon.net asked Neeson about his preparation for the role, and the tall Irish actor certainly seems to have done his homework and then some; "When they asked me to do ‘Seraphim Falls’ I was already a year into research for ‘Lincoln.’ Very very heavily into the Civil War and that whole period. That's still an ongoing process." Neeson’s taken his research on Lincoln to a deeply personal place. When asked if he had been to Lincoln’s home, Neeson replied, "I've been there. I've been to Washington, I've held his wallet, I've said a prayer on the Bible he was inaugurated on. Still ongoing... there's an extraordinary Lincoln bicentennial committee, a place I go to in Washington… I read his personal letters and stood on the stage at Ford's Theater."

Standing on the stage of Ford’s as an actor who is about to play the legendary man who was assassinated there is quite a qualification for the title role of Lincoln, but Neeson has plenty of others. Of the two-thousand books Neeson estimated exist about the Civil War President, Neeson guessed he has read about twenty-two of them. With all of the time and effort, heart and mind Neeson is pouring into this part, not to mention the time period, "Lincoln" is sure to be a powerful biopic.

Meanwhile, "Seraphim Falls" is currently playing in limited release. Besides Brosnan, the film also stars Anjelica Houston and Michael Wincott and is produced by Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey through Icon.