The first official photo of Daniel Day-Lewis as our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, was released to Entertainment Weekly today... and the actor looks just like him (see the above side-by-side). The role of the former president is for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, coming out November 9th, and the director told EW he "captures not just the likeness... but also the intangible, pensive quality that made him a great leader." We saw glimpses of this last year when this photo popped up.
While filming, Day-Lewis is said to have fully immersed himself in the mindset of the president and the time period. Specifically, that's early 1865, as the movie focus on the last four months of his life—the screenplay was adapted from Doris Kearns Goodwin's book "Team of Rivals." Spielberg says his movie begins with “Lincoln’s realization that the Emancipation Proclamation, the thing he is most known for... He needed to abolish slavery by constitutional measure—and that’s where we start.”
It's unclear if 1865 New York City will get any screen time, though Lincoln was given a grand funeral here. According to the Abraham Lincoln blog, "the only known photo of Abraham Lincoln in death was taken" at NYC's City Hall—here it is.
