Lincoln stays hotter than Petraeus. The Lincoln penny’s drying up, Lincoln Monument’s drying up, Lincoln tunnel’s flooding up, but there’s Bill O’Reilly’s best seller about his assassination, historian Harold Holzer’s book “Lincoln” about his Proclamation and Spielberg’s terrific movie.
“Wanting to do this film for 12 years, Steven came to me six years ago,” said writer Tony Kushner. “He’d bought the rights to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Lincoln biography and thought it’s time.
“I read 300 books. Kept buying, buying, buying, every five minutes there’s another biography on him. Always some new interpretation. I have 10,000 pictures of him.
“I needed to find and include a significant moment in his life. He didn’t just scratch his ass, make the Proclamation then get shot. I saw him get down on all fours, put logs in the fire. Not vain. One shoe on, one off. People said he did things like hug people. Thumb in lapel as he spoke. Pick up his kid.
“His father left him alone, he was six months alone when he went to marry his second wife, he was self-reliant. This was no film about slavery. It was about the Man. Some I made up.
“My original screenplay was 500 pages. Overwhelming. A year and a half I did it over and over and over. On 140 pages, I never got further than a few months. Every second year I thought, ‘I’m the wrong writer.’ Then came the idea to focus on the man.
“Difficult husband, difficult wife. He told her his dreams. Mary believed in dreams, went to psychics. They were a tough couple. She got upset. Threw stuff at him in Springfield. He made distance from her when he had to be away.
“In this film, you fall in love with the man. He’s an old friend.
“I right away mentioned Daniel Day-Lewis for the role. Steven already asked him, but he’d said, ‘No, I don’t know how to play the guy.’ Then Leonardo DiCaprio said: ‘You’re crazy. You have to play him!’ Then, in a pub in Ireland, Steven took Daniel’s photo. In silhouette he looked like Lincoln. It was, ‘God is telling you something.’ ”
Has Tony kept any Lincoln mementoes?
“Steven gave me a bust, Daniel gave me his bow-tie, and I bought the ivory statue in our Emancipation Proclamation scene.”
WITH “Skyfall” a hot movie, Jonathan Farkas recalled his parents’ involvement in Bond’s first 007 movie. 1962. Sean Connery and Ursula Andress. Jamaica, the island. In an estate called Laughing Waters, a self-made pool had formed in sand at the waterfall. His parents were there. Movie people wanted that pool so their star could rise up from it. They got it. Filmed it. And the movie was “Dr. No.”
TEN years ago this semi art aficionado lawyer was offered a Basquiat. Price? $100,000. “For Jean-Michel Basquiat?” blubbered the lawyer. “Please. You’re crazy. No.” Same painting was just auctioned at Sotheby’s. Price? $23.5 million. The lawyer is now tearing out his remaining hairs.
SO, listen, ever dream you ate a giant piece of beef jerky, and you wake up, and your briefcase is missing?
MICHELLE Pfeiffer, admittedly rosy after “Too much pinot grigio,” bought a dog at a charity auction. A big dog. Like a huge Newfoundland. It was good pinot grigio . . . What’s Inner Bonding, who knows, but Alanis Morissette’s last albums were inspired by Dr. Margaret Paul’s Inner Bonding, which is now available on computer program SelfQuest . . . Janet Jackson’s dressing-room requests: “Fresh ice. No fish ice.”
BEN Affleck, who deserves Oscar’s Best Director nom for “Argo,” gets December’s GQ cover. On early-day criticism, he says: “I was told I’m a great actor. I just would never be on the cover of a magazine.” . . . Suzanne Somers grabbed a Lifetime morning talk-show thing, “The Suzanne Show.” “No pharmaceutical sponsorship,” she says, “So I’m free to discuss new treatments I’ve discovered.”
BE it known that as Fantine in “Les Miz,” Anne Hathaway’s short haircut was chopped with a blade. And stayed multi-length until it grew out . . . Also Lady Gaga paid for her own container of coffee with a pocket of loose change and told an onlooker: “Hey, the music business isn’t what it was.”. . . Teri Hatcher wants her breasts preserved for posterity. “On my deathbed, they should be removed, frozen, framed and auctioned for some fabulous women’s charity.”
FORGET Robert Pattinson. Shove Kristen Whatsername. Today’s hottest commodity? A contractor. Houses, docks, garages, businesses, offices have crumbled in Sandy. Everyone’s hunting a contractor. Badly in need, one Long Island lady rang a highly recommended contractor. He couldn’t take the job. Why? His own house had been hit. His first need was to take care of himself.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.