First official image of Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln , a biopic on the 16th president of the United States, has released the first official image of an in-costume Daniel Day-Lewis over at EW.com .

Considering the film is opening in the US before the year's out, we’re a little surprised that it’s taken this long (and can only presume that a trailer will be following shortly).

That said, the tardy image was worth the wait, with Day-Lewis cutting a commanding figure as Abraham Lincoln.

That wearied slouch acts as a reminder that Lincoln will only follow the last four months of the president’s life, as he tries to bring the Civil War to an end, while also abolishing slavery.

It’ll be Day-Lewis’ first stint in front of the camera since 2009’s Nine , and it’s definitely one of our most anticipated performances of the year. Surely the Best Actor Oscar race is going to be between DDL and The Master ’s Joaquin Phoenix, right?

Check out the image in full below:

Lincoln also stars Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Jackie Earle Haley and Jared Harris, and opens in the US on 16 November 2012, before arriving in the UK on 25 January 2013.

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.