Steven Spielberg, Doris Kearns Goodwin & Tony Kushner Discuss “Lincoln” at The Richmond Forum

After Steven Spielberg filmed Lincoln in our city, he returned to discuss the 2012 biopic with the Richmond Forum along with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and screenwriter Tony Kushner. Moderated by Tim Reid, the conversation took an audience of 4,200 behind the scenes to explore the process of bringing history to life on film -- the decisive choices and challenges of achieving historical accuracy within the need for a compelling narrative, and the process that affects everything from script to casting to locations to final print. They also discussed how Hollywood has embraced historical films throughout its own history and what their impact has been.

Lincoln was released in November 2012. The screenplay, written by Kushner, is based in part on Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

This special aired January 17th at 9:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS / WHTJ PBS and on January 24th at 10:00 p.m. on WCVW PBS. If you missed it - you can watch the entire program here, courtesy of the Richmond Forum.