Daniel Day-Lewis already hard at work for Lincoln

Daniel Day-Lewis prepares for role as Abraham Lincol in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster. Day-Lewis has been preparing for his role as Abraham Lincoln in Steve Spielberg's planned 2012 blockbuster by visiting the state where the former president began his political career.

Day-Lewis will star in the movie based on the book "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, who joined Day-Lewis on his tour in Illinois. They visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, the Lincoln Home and the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln served as a legislator and and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices.

Kathleen Kennedy, who is co-producing the film with Spielberg, said: “We just came in for a quick peek. All of us were very moved by seeing some of the historial artefacts.".

Dave Blanchette, a spokesman for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, said Day-Lewis spent a lot of time in the House of Representatives chamber in the Old Capitol. “He got up on the dais and said, ‘This is a very intimate setting, you can really see everybody in the room when you’re speaking from here,’” Blanchette said. “It was obvious he was trying to get a sense for what Lincoln might have seen when he spoke and gave his ‘House Divided’ speech.”