Lincoln actually won’t be Spielberg’s next film, however. That honor goes to Spielberg’s part of the Tintin trilogy which he will be filming this fall. Spielberg, however, is quite good at filming back to back films (anyone remember the one-two punch of Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in 1993?) and he’s said that he’s planning a start date for Lincoln of early next year. Spielberg has a strong script by Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner ready to go.

The director had been prepping the Aaron Sorkin scripted The Trial of the Chicago Seven, but the writer’s strike put a hold on rewrites he needed. Spielberg had already enlisted Sacha Baron Cohen and had already talked to other high profile A-list actors (reportedly including Will Smith) about starring in the drama about the trial of anti-Vietnam war protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, but the rewrites put everything behind schedule. Apparently, Spielberg no longer feels he can make that project work at this time.

I’d much rather have the Lincoln project come together anyway. It sounds much more like something I’d want to see than the other film. I’m thinking that if he can get it shot early next year they can have it out just in time for Oscar season in 2009.