Honestly, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. When people ask who played Lincoln in the movie Lincoln, the answer isn't just a name on a casting sheet—it's a transformation that basically redefined how we see one of the most important figures in American history. Daniel Day-Lewis didn't just show up to a set in a stovepipe hat. He vanished. He became Abraham Lincoln in a way that left even Steven Spielberg a bit rattled on set.
It was 2012. The movie was a massive gamble.
If you've seen the film, you know it isn't a "greatest hits" biopic. It focuses almost entirely on the final four months of Lincoln's life, specifically the frantic, morally gray political chess match to pass the 13th Amendment. To pull that off, Spielberg needed more than an actor. He needed a ghost.
The Man Behind the Beard: Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis took the job, but he didn't take it lightly.
In fact, he turned Spielberg down for years. He thought the responsibility was too heavy. Eventually, after reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals and a script by Tony Kushner that felt more like a political thriller than a history lesson, he said yes. But there were conditions. He needed a year. Just one year to live, breathe, and read everything the man ever wrote.
The Voice That Shocked Everyone
When we think of Lincoln, we usually imagine a deep, booming, baritone voice. Something like James Earl Jones or a Shakespearean stage actor. We think of the Gettysburg Address being delivered with the weight of a mountain.
Day-Lewis did something different.
He found historical accounts suggesting Lincoln actually had a high-pitched, almost reedy voice. It was thin. It carried well across crowds but it wasn't "pretty." When Day-Lewis first sent Spielberg a recording of the voice he’d developed, he sent it in a package marked with a warning so no one else would hear it prematurely.
✨ Don't miss: Why La Mera Mera Radio is Actually Dominating Local Airwaves Right Now
He stayed in that voice for the entire shoot. Even when the cameras weren't rolling, even when he was texting Sally Field (who played Mary Todd Lincoln), he stayed in character. He signed his texts "A."
It sounds intense because it was.
Why the Casting of Daniel Day-Lewis Mattered So Much
Usually, Hollywood biopics feel like celebrities playing dress-up. You see the actor through the makeup. But with who played Lincoln in the movie Lincoln, the immersion was so total that the crew reportedly started referring to him as "Mr. President." Spielberg himself felt a weird sense of reverence. He wore a suit to the set every day out of respect for the "President."
The performance wasn't just about the physical tics—the slight slump of the shoulders or the way Lincoln sat like a man whose bones were tired. It was the humor.
Lincoln was a storyteller.
In the film, there’s a scene where he starts telling a long-winded story about a revolutionary war hero and a portrait of George Washington in a bathroom. His cabinet members are annoyed. They’ve heard it all before. Day-Lewis plays this with a twinkle in his eye that makes the character feel human rather than a statue from the Lincoln Memorial.
The Supporting Cast That Kept Up
While Day-Lewis was the sun the entire movie orbited around, he wasn't alone. You had Tommy Lee Jones playing Thaddeus Stevens with a level of grumpiness that only Tommy Lee Jones can achieve. Sally Field fought tooth and nail for the role of Mary Todd, even though she was technically older than the historical Mary was at the time. She did a screen test with Day-Lewis—who flew in specifically to help her—and the chemistry was undeniable.
🔗 Read more: Why Love Island Season 7 Episode 23 Still Feels Like a Fever Dream
Then you have Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln and James Spader as a political operative. It was a powerhouse. But everyone on that set knew they were there to support the central transformation.
Accuracy and the "Method"
There's a lot of talk about "Method Acting." Some people find it pretentious.
In this case, it was necessary.
The 1860s were a different world. The way people spoke was more formal, more rhythmic. By refusing to break character, Day-Lewis ensured that the language of the script felt like a first language, not something he was reciting. He spent a lot of time looking at the photographs taken by Alexander Gardner, staring into Lincoln’s eyes to find the specific "deep-set melancholy" that contemporaries always wrote about.
The result? An Academy Award for Best Actor. His third. No other male actor has ever won three Oscars in that category.
The Impact of the Film Today
Why does it matter who played Lincoln in the movie Lincoln over a decade later?
Because biopics are often forgotten. They’re "Oscar bait" that disappears. But Lincoln stays relevant because it de-mythologized a god. It showed him as a guy who had to bribe people, tell dirty jokes, and argue with his wife to get the right thing done. Day-Lewis captured the paradox of Lincoln: a man of immense kindness who was also a ruthless political operator.
💡 You might also like: When Was Kai Cenat Born? What You Didn't Know About His Early Life
The film grossed over $275 million. For a talky, three-hour political drama, that’s insane. It worked because the performance was a magnet.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often think Liam Neeson was the one who played him.
Actually, Neeson was attached to the project for almost ten years. He eventually stepped down because he felt he had grown too old for the part and the "spark" had passed. It was a gracious move that cleared the way for Day-Lewis.
Another common misconception is that the movie covers the Civil War. It doesn't. You hardly see any battles. It’s a movie about rooms. Small, smoky rooms where men in coats decide the fate of millions. Without the right actor, those scenes would have been boring. Day-Lewis made them electric.
How to Experience the Performance Best
If you're going to revisit the film, don't just watch it on a phone. The sound design is incredible. They actually tracked down Lincoln’s original pocket watch and recorded its ticking sound to use in the movie. That’s the level of detail we’re talking about.
- Watch for the hands: Day-Lewis uses his hands specifically—they are large, slightly awkward, and always moving as if he's trying to feel the weight of his words.
- Listen to the silence: Some of the best moments aren't the speeches. They're the moments where Lincoln is just thinking, silhouetted against a window.
- Check the historical tie-ins: Read the 13th Amendment before watching. It makes the stakes feel much more "real" and less like a history test.
The performance is a masterclass in subtlety. It’s easy to play "big." It’s hard to play "tired and hopeful."
To truly appreciate the craft, look into the letters Lincoln wrote during the 1864-1865 period. Comparing his actual prose to the way Day-Lewis delivers the dialogue in the film reveals just how much work went into the cadence of his speech. If you are a student of history or film, your next step should be watching the "Making Of" documentaries included with the Blu-ray or available on certain streaming platforms. They detail the exact archival research used to recreate the White House of 1865, providing a deeper context for the world Day-Lewis inhabited during the production.
For those interested in the political side, reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is the ultimate companion piece. It provides the backbone for the movie's narrative and shows just how much of Day-Lewis’s performance was rooted in documented historical personality traits, specifically Lincoln’s use of self-deprecating humor as a political tool.