Abe in 2010? A possibility

Steven Spielberg’s long-rumored Abraham Lincoln biopic may well go into production in 2009. It would be the director’s next project after “Tintin,” which is expected to go into production in September.

“I want to start ‘Lincoln’ in early 2009, because it’s Lincoln’s 200th anniversary,” Spielberg told the German magazine Focus. Marvin Levy, Spielberg’s spokesman, confirmed the director’s production plans Sunday.

Liam Neeson, who was in talks to play the 16th U.S. president based on an adaptation of “Team of Rivals,” a biography by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, is still associated with the project, Levy confirmed.

-- Sheigh Crabtree