Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis team up for Lincoln biopic

Hollywood star Daniel Day-Lewis will play 16th US president Abraham Lincoln in a biopic to be directed by Oscar-winner Steven Spielberg.

Lincoln, adapted by playwright Tony Kushner from Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals. Spielberg has been attached to the project for years and earlier Liam Neeson was attached to star as Lincoln.

Kushner and Spielberg had earlier teamed up for Oscar-nominated Munich. Spielberg will begin filming the movie next year. He is also producing the biopic with Kathleen Kennedy, the Hollywood Reporter said.

"Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest of actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema's distant future," said Spielberg.

"I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln," he said in a statement.

The film will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and his cabinet over abolition and the end of the Civil War.

DreamWorks expects to have the film in theaters late in 2012 through Disney's Touchstone label.

Day-Lewis recently starred in musical Nine and 2007 film There Will Be Blood, for which he won an Oscar for best actor.

"Throughout his career, (Daniel) has been exceptionally selective in his choice of material...which makes us feel even more fortunate that he has chosen to join with us for Lincoln," said DreamWorks co-chairman and CEO Stacey Snider.

Spielberg has a busy year ahead. He is currently filming War Horse, which will release on December 28, 2011, and he is set to start filming Robopocalypse in January 2012 for a 2013 release. The Lincoln shoot will take place in between. He has also directed The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.