Apparently even uber-famous directors get rejection letters — although it doesn’t appear to have been too tough a pill to swallow in this instance. Steven Spielberg gamely revealed the letter he received from his LINCOLN star Daniel Day-Lewis at the recent New York Film Critics Circle awards.
The letter, which begins with a polite “Dear Steven” from the always-gracious Day-Lewis, is now currently making the rounds on the Internet.
LINCOLN, which had toiled in development hell for years, finally came to fruition in late 2012 and has been generating Oscar buzz ever since. The much-delayed project went through a series of rewrites and the loss of its original lead star, Liam Neeson. But when Spielberg set his sights on luring Day-Lewis into portraying America’s 16th president, he found himself turned down by the British actor. And not once, but twice.
Spielberg, forced to work on his powers of persuasion, continued to court Day-Lewis by promising to rework the script with screenwriter Tony Kushner until it met the actors’ standards.
And the end, as they say, is history, as LINCOLN continues its successful theatrical run and garners countless awards.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
