In an interview with GMTV, Liam Neeson (who recently joined Lee Daniels‘ Selma) stated that he is not involved with Steven Spielberg‘s biopic Lincoln. “I’m not actually playing Lincoln now,” Neeson explained, “I was attached to it for a while, but…now I’m past my sell date.” This development not only begs the question of who could possibly replace Neeson, but also whether or not this long-standing project will ever be translated to the silver screen.

As The Playlist reports, Spielberg is set to begin production soon on his next film War Horse, which is currently due for release in August 2011. There is more troubling news, as the reports also states that Lincoln‘s script is far from finalized, as Tony Kushner (Munich) is still rewriting John Logan‘s (The Last Samurai, The Aviator) original draft.

Lincoln has sure turned out to be one of those “wait and see” projects. It seems as if every new report about this film over the past few years has delayed it even further. And with Neeson out of the picture, who would have surely made the perfect Abraham Lincoln, I am truly doubtful about the project’s future.

Who do you think should replace Neeson? Will this project eventually be brought to life?

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A story at /Film says that Steven Spielberg revealed in a press release today that he will be directing a remake of the 1950 Jimmy Stewart film Harvey.  Having finished principal photography on Tintin, many assumed his next project would be his proposed Lincoln biopic or an Oldboy remake, but he has chosen this as his next project, to be co-distributed by 20th Century Fox and Dremaworks.  Screenwriter Jonathan Tropper has written the movie’s script.

The story of a mild-mannered man who claims to see a 6-foot tall rabbit, Harvey was originally a stage playon Broadway and adapted twice for television, one of which according to IMDb starred Stewart again in the role of Elwood P. Dowd.  The same story claims that the movie will begin shooting as soon as early 2010.  Already there seem to be rumors of Tom Hanks taking over the role, making this the fourth collaboration between him and Spielberg, after Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me if You Can, and The Terminal.

I don’t know if I’m warm to the idea of this.  I’ve never seen the original film, but I would rather see Spielberg do Lincoln or even the Oldboy remake with Will Smith.  That being said, I always have confidence in him to make a good film, so I shouldn’t remain excessively pessimistic about this just yet.

What do you think of Spielberg directing a Harvey remake?