Saving Lincoln

Saving Lincoln
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Salvador Litvak
Produced by	Reuben Lim Salvador Litvak
Written by	Salvador Litvak Nina Davidovich Litvak
Starring	Tom Amandes Lea Coco Penelope Ann Miller Bruce Davison Creed Bratton Saidah Arrika Ekulona Josh Stamberg Robert Craighead Lew Temple Michael Maize Steven Brand Adam Croasdell
Music by	Mark Adler
Cinematography	Alexandre Naufel
Edited by	Josh Noyes
Release dates	February 13, 2013 (2013-02-13)
Country	United States
Language	English

Saving Lincoln is a dramatic biographical film released on February 13, 2013.^[1] It tells the little-known story of Ward Hill Lamon, who was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Danville, Illinois, from 1852 until 1857. Lamon accompanied Lincoln to Washington and served as the President's main bodyguard during the Civil War, thwarting several assassination attempts while holding the post of US Marshal. Lincoln and Lamon were close friends. Lincoln sent Lamon to Richmond, Virginia, on Reconstruction business a few days before April 14, 1865, the day that John Wilkes Booth assassinated the President.

The film was shot on a green screen stage, using the CineCollage technique invented by the director Salvador Litvak to create interior and exterior locations. Actors, extras, furniture, and props were filmed and combined with period photographs via the CineCollage process, which relied on off-the-shelf visual effects tools. The end result was a stylized look that works hand-in-hand with the movie's narrative structure, which involves Lamon's personal recollections of his friend. This was the first time such a technique was used to create an entire feature film.^[2]

Plot

Director Salvador Litvak and his writing partner, Nina Davidovich Litvak, based their screenplay on their extensive research into Lincoln's friendship with Lamon. Saving Lincoln charts their relationship from their initial meeting to Lincoln's Presidency. Lamon was a tall, boisterous Southerner who liked to drink whiskey, tell jokes and stories, play the banjo, and wrestle. Despite some pronounced differences between the two men, they shared a fondness for telling jokes and stories, and both felt slavery should be eliminated. Lamon often served as Lincoln's private confidant.

The movie jumps from their initial meeting to Lincoln's presidency and the repeated attempts that were made on his life. Many well-known incidents are recounted, including the plot to kill Lincoln in Maryland, while he was traveling to Washington, D.C. after his first election – Lamon worked with Allan Pinkerton, who founded the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency, to thwart that plan. Other events include the time a bullet went through Lincoln's hat while he was riding his horse late one evening – he blamed it on a hunter firing an errant shot, but Lamon saw it as a sign that Lincoln was in mortal danger and needed even tighter security. Lamon was said to sometimes sleep by Lincoln's bedroom door, a striking image that appears in the film.

Themes in the story involve Lincoln's anguish over Civil War casualties, his conflicts with members of his cabinet, and the death of the Lincolns' son Willie, which drove Mary Todd Lincoln to the depths of despair. Such situations complicate Lamon's efforts to keep Lincoln safe.

Cast

• Tom Amandes as President Abraham Lincoln
• Lea Coco as Ward Hill Lamon
• Penelope Ann Miller as Mary Todd Lincoln
• Bruce Davison as William H. Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State. Lewis Powell, a co-conspirator with John Wilkes Booth, attempted to kill Seward on the night of Lincoln's assassination but only managed to wound him
• Creed Bratton as Senator Charles Sumner, who was vehemently against slavery and often tried to convince Lincoln to immediately free the slaves
• Josh Stamberg as Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, who oversaw the establishment of a national banking system and the issuance of paper currency during the Civil War
• Robert Craighead as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who clashed with both Lincoln and Lamon. Several of those incidents are recounted in the film. After Lincoln was assassinated, Stanton famously said, "Now he belongs to the ages."
• Michael Maize as William Herndon, who was Lincoln's law partner before Lamon. He was a staunch abolitionist who insisted on an immediate end to slavery, even by violent means. His views often brought him into conflict with the more pragmatic Lamon.
• Saidah Arrika Ekulona as Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley
• Lew Temple as Montgomery Blair
• Steven Brand as Ned Baker
• Adam Croasdell as Col. Elmer Ellsworth
• Elijah Nelson as Willie Lincoln
• Michael Shamus Wiles as Cranston Laurie
• Matthew Del Negro as Nathaniel Rulough
• Peter O'Meara as General Ulysses Grant

References

External links

• Saving Lincoln at the Internet Movie Database
• Movie City News – “SAVING LINCOLN” Finishes Post-Production Process
• BH Interview: 'Saving Lincoln' Director Savors Sharing Movie Screens with Spielberg's 'Lincoln'
• / Salvador Litvak talks Saving Lincoln with The Straight Hype