Students and teachers attended a prescreening of Steven Spielberg’s (Jessica Capshaw ’94, Theo ’06) new film, “Lincoln” at the Arclight Theater in Sherman Oaks Oct. 25, 22 days before its national release.
The screening was moved from a smaller theatre to a larger one to accommodate high demand and was free for students and faculty.
Dreamworks Studios CEO Stacey Snider (Katie Jones ’15) offered the free screening to the school, Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church said.
“Lincoln” is a dramatic retelling of one month in Abraham Lincoln’s life during the Civil War.
“I felt as though the film nicely balanced an accurate portrayal of Lincoln’s life, as well as a well-rounded spectrum of cinematic qualities,” Molly Cinnamon ’14 said.
The movie is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Lincoln, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.” The screenplay was written by playwright Tony Kushner.
“I thought it was a pretty accurate based on what I’d learned in history last year,” Jake Feiler ’13 said.
The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln, Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as their oldest son Robert Todd and Gulliver McGrath as Tad, their younger son.
“The writing was very strong and you could tell it was written by a playwright by how dialogue-driven it was,” Nick Healy ’13 said.