What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly collective of links and thoughts breaking down all the news and great essays from around the movie blogosphere. A celebration of quality programming, if you will. Thus, it becomes quality programming in and of itself. In short, it’s worth however long it takes you to read to the end (where we’ve strategically placed a Christopher Nolan-themed video as your reward). We begin this evening with the internet’s story of the night, Daniel Day-Lewis’ awesome Abe Lincoln beard, as shot by Virginia local Michael Phillips. He snapped a shot of the highly method actor in a Richmond restaurant (not far from where Steven Spielberg’s film is currently in production). Basically it looks like Abraham Lincoln with jeans on. So yes, that works. Also worth noting: It’s being reported that Day-Lewis has not dropped his Lincoln accent since March. That’s one hardcore mother-effing emancipator, right there.

Steven Spielberg seems hellbent on casting just about every talented actor he can in his long talked-about and finally-upcoming Abraham Lincoln biopic, Lincoln. Beyond Daniel Day-Lewis as the brilliant and ill-fated American president, the rest of the cast listing for Lincoln gives new meaning to the term “star-packed,” as it currently includes Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Joseph Cross, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, Lee Pace, Jackie Earle Haley, and David Oyelowo. At this rate, I’m not entirely unconvinced that I haven’t been cast in this project. But Spielberg has now added another British actor to this most American of stories, casting Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant. As Spielberg’s film will focus on “the road to abolition,” the inclusion of Grant is a no-brainer, as the general was an essential part of the Civil War, and he is regarded as the war’s most successful general for the Union side, thanks to his big wins at battles such as Shiloh and Vicksburg. Grant, of course, later became president himself, following Lincoln’s vice-president, Andrew Johnson, who assumed Lincoln’s position after his assassination.

Despite the fact that his most recent film War Horse has yet to even be released, talk about Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Abraham Lincoln biopic Lincoln has already started to increase. And, in my mind, that makes sense. Lincoln stars Daniel Day-Lewis as one of the most iconic historical figures that has ever existed. War Horse stars…a horse. In Monday’s edition of the Orlando Sentinel, they managed to get an interview with the legendary director, who spoke briefly on what his Lincoln pic would be about. According to Spielberg, “we’re basing it on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, ‘Team of Rivals,’ but we’re only focusing in on the last four months of Abraham Lincoln’s life.” That information helps add some context to another bit of Lincoln news that popped up today: Deadline Crawfordville’s report that Jackie Earle Haley has joined the cast in the role of Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens. We’re all used to seeing Haley play roles where he does things like brutally murder people or molest little children, so it’s easy to imagine that he’s been tapped to play Stephens because they’re portraying him as a contemptible racist in the film; but that might not end up being the case. Stephens is most famous for his Cornerstone Speech, in which he said that, “our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Daniel Day-Lewis. Tommy Lee Jones. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sally Field. Tim Blake Nelson. Hal Holbrook. James Spader. John Hawkes. Steven Spielberg has officially pointed his bat at the far bleachers when it comes to casting his upcoming film Lincoln. It’s telling when the Oscar talk can begin fairly nonchalantly during the casting phase. We already knew that Sally Field was set to play Mary Todd Lincoln and Daniel Day-Lewis would don the top hat and beard to play the iconic 16th President. Now, according to LA Times Blog, Jones has joined the cast as abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Gordon-Levitt is on board as Lincoln’s son. While The Conspirator focused on the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, Spielberg’s take will look at slavery from the view point of Lincoln and his political advisers. It now has one hell of a cast and no vampire hunting in sight.

Recent comments by Diane Lane pointed to the fact that Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot Man of Steel would be yet another origin story of the Kryptonian cast-off turned farm boy turned big city reporter; and I and others like me instantly started whining. Well, to add to this story, The Latino Review says that they have a shadowy source involved with the film, and they’ve beaten some more specifics about what we’ll be seeing out of him. Possible spoilers that will be revealed in the film’s advertising eventually anyway below. According to Deep Throat, we will in fact be seeing the planet Krypton, and we will get scenes with Superman’s birth parents Jor-El and Lara. And not only will we be seeing them, but they seem to be meaty enough parts that Snyder is going after big actors to play them. He’s even been hounding the greatest living actor Daniel Day-Lewis to play Jor-El. In addition to Superman’s parents and the already cast General Zod, we’ll also be getting another female Kryptonian. Her name is Faora and she was a man-hating serial killer who offed 23 dudes back on Krypton before she was trapped in the Phantom Zone. The source also says that the crystalline look of Donner’s Superman films will be changed, and this time Krypton will have more of a futuristic cityscape look like Coruscant from the Star Wars prequels. So people complaining that this Superman movie looks like yet another retread of Donner’s films now have [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

It appears Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis will portray President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s long gestating biographical film, Lincoln. The role has belonged to Liam Neeson for quite some time now, but delays in the project eventually led to the actor dropping out of contention due reportedly to his age. He’s 58, which is two years older than Lincoln was when he caught a bullet in the back of his head while interrupting a matinee of Wicked on Broadway. It’s also only five years older than Day-Lewis’ age of 53.

For 36 days straight, we’ll be exploring the famous 36 Dramatic Situations by presenting a film that exemplifies each one. From family killing family to prisoners in need of asylum, we brush off the 19th century list in order to remember that it’s still incredibly relevant today.

Whether you’re seeking a degree in Literature, love movies, or just love seeing things explode, our feature should have something for everyone. If it doesn’t, please don’t drink our dairy-based dessert beverage.

Part 7 of the 36-part series takes a look at “Obtaining” with There Will Be Blood.

Guy Ritchie is still finishing up his rewrites on Sherlock Holmes 2, a film that Warner Bros. has already given a (rapidly approaching) release date of December 16, 2011. But even though the new script is not done, he’s been thinking about who he’d like to take over as the villain Moriarty. Just as it was in the first film — it doesn’t appear to be Brad Pitt.

As a part of FSR’s Decade in Review I’ve been tasked with coming up a list of the most memorable, landmark performances since 2000.

This week’s Culture Warrior gives an exhaustive review of the decade that you won’t find anywhere else on the Interwebs.

After watching this brand new trailer for the upcoming musical Nine, from director Rob Marshall (Chicago), we also love the cinema Italiano.

The Weinstein Company hit Reject HQ with a few new photos from their upcoming release Nine, from director Rob Marshall (Chicago). And boy, does Judi Dench look hot.

The Weinstein Company has released a vibrant an sexually throbbing trailer for the upcoming musical Nine, the latest work of director Rob Marshall (Chicago).

What could possibly be even better than seeing Daniel Day-Lewis in another movie so soon after his Academy-Award-winning performance as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood? Another Day-Lewis-Scorcese partnership, that’s what. And that’s exactly what audiences are going to get.

Ms. Stacy Ferguson, better known as Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas fame, has joined the cast of Rob Marshall’s Nine. Fergie had a small role in the zombie flick, Planet Terror, but has otherwise had no chance to showcase any acting talent she may possess. Nine is a screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical for the Weinstein Company. Marshall was also the director of the 2003 smash musical hit, Chicago.

We are convinced that DDL can do just about anything. He can strike oil, be the last of his kind and even run the streets of NY. But can he sing?

Taking Daniel Day-Lewis’ dialog and setting over scenes from Star Wars, one youtuber gave us another villain to fear, Darth Plainview.

In my original review of There Will Be Blood, I mentioned how odd it was that a film which shuns being entertaining is so engrossing. On DVD, we see that it is much of the same.

You had to know that something like this was going to come eventually, and now thanks to the folks at Busted Tees, we have an “I Drink Your Milkshake” T-Shirt.