I’ve been waiting for this day. Steven Spielberg has been shooting Lincoln in Virginia for quite some time now, and until today, we haven’t had a single glimpse of his star Daniel Day-Lewis as president Abraham Lincoln. He even added another person to the cast recently (Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant), but no peek at DDL. Today that changed, as we were sent a photo taken by @UVAMichael that shows our actor at a restaurant in the town. Check it out below.

He certainly seems to have nailed the look. Variety‘s Jeff Sneider recently revealed that Day-Lewis “hasn’t broken his Lincoln accent since March” and his “real name doesn’t even appear on the call sheet.” I’ve heard from other sources that it is indeed the high-pitched tone Lincoln is infamous for.

DDL is backed up by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn and John Hawkes in the film that will be focusing on Lincoln’s pivotal role at the end of the Civil War. With a script by Tony Kushner, Lincoln also includes James Spader, Lee Pace, Jackie Earle Haley, Sally Field, Michael Stuhlbarg, Hal Holbrook, Walton Goggins, Bruce McGill, Tim Blake Nelson, David Oyelowo, Joseph Cross and David Costabile.

Expect a December 2012 release for Lincoln, while Spielberg’s War Horse and The Adventures Tintin arrive late next month.

What do you think of our first peek at DDL as our lead?