The Vulnerable Lincoln of Daniel Day-Lewis

The Joker had a sinister motive when he asked his victims - why so serious? I asked the same question to me a little while ago; my motive was entirely benign. My thought process evolved from an interview of three-times Academy Award winner in Sun Times.

I saw Lincoln a few weeks back and enjoyed the experience. Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis complement each other - the combination of aesthetics of direction and realism of method acting. I would love to talk about this more but some other day!

Lincoln is a revered figure in American history and with this comes the burden to portray the character as godlike. I would let a quote from the movie The Insider to put forth my sentiments about human beings who are now considered heroes.

Mike Wallace: Who are these people?Lowell Bergman: Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure, Mike. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency?

The movie Lincoln shows the extraordinary pressure on Abraham Lincoln - a human being with all the sweet & sour stuff that makes us human. Daniel Day-Lewis's Lincoln had to be human otherwise the movie would just turn out to be about a superhero with no "magical powers".

I wondered how he approached this character which came with the burden of responsibility and reverence. It was all made clear in few lines from his interview; you can read the rest of the interview here. I'll let Daniel Day-Lewis do the talking:

(quote) “Lincoln has been emblazoned in our minds,” he explains. “He has been re-created in ways that have made him dehumanized. It occurred to me that I felt this shyness around Lincoln combined with this reverence.

“Reverence is of no use to you at all when creating a character. If anything, you have to be a bit disrespectful when creating a life on film. It’s as if you have to walk straight up to a stranger and say, ‘Do you want to spend some time with me? Do you want to hang out with me … for a couple of years?’ ” 

There was the rub: “I was asking one of the great historical figures of all time to hang out with me.” (unquote)

In some way there is a life-lesson to be learned from his words. In our lives we take ourselves too seriously - the childlike playfulness seems to disappear as our bodies grow older. I wonder sometimes if I can ask the youthful-me to guide the older-me to some fun & vulnerable places.

PS: It's worth to spend around two-and-a-half of your lives on Lincoln. Although it's a feel-good historical film but it teaches so much more about the man not just the 16th President of United States.