The opening of the film now provides onscreen messages that provide exposition and contextualisation for the story of Lincoln’s fight to abolish slavery, alongside actual black-and-white images designed to provide insight into the realities of America in 1865, rather than an opening battle scene of the Civil War.
Spielberg is willing to go further when the film opens in April in Japan, there will be yet another element: he will appear on camera at the start of the film to provide a context to the story.
Paul Hanneman, co-president of 20th Century Fox International, told the Hollywood Reporter: ”It’s not a biopic about Abraham Lincoln, it’s a moment in time that changed history,” says Hanneman. “From a publicity perspective, we’re not trying to make this a movie about politics.”
“We worked on [the new opening] with Steven Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner. It’s seamless and quite beautiful, actually. And there is the John Williams score playing over it.”
Although the film has been nominated for 12 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and has made $150 million at the box office so far, there is a concern at Dreamworks about selling a uniquely American and dialogue-heavy story to an overseas audience.
