Previewing Killing Lincoln

It is weird to think that Presidents Day lines up with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but Friday marks the 148 anniversary of his death. And almost a century and a half after his death, Abe is having a banner twelve months with three separate movies made about him, the Oscar nominated Lincoln which is odds on favorite to clean up at the awards later this month, one that re-imagined as a Vampire Hunter, and this Sunday, a day before his shared holiday, the National Geographic Channel will be airing their first originally scripted drama, Killing Lincoln based on the book of the same name written by Bill O’Reilly.

Despite being the title character, Lincoln is almost a secondary character with John Wilkes Booth taking center stage for most of the film. Lincoln is even dead by the halfway point (spoiler alert for those that fell asleep during history class and ignored the title of the film). With the focus on the murderer, there are plenty of facts that are brought up that I was unaware of (keep in mind I never read the book) like Booth originally planned to just kidnap Lincoln, along with Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. Killing Lincoln may be the first in-depth look on the man who was the first to assassinate a sitting president. Even the film The Conspirator, Booth was resigned to a background character.

In this installment Billy Campbell (The Killing) is the one who puts Lincoln’s top hat while Jesse Johnson (Don’s son) is the man behind the gun. It is hard to follow up Daniel Day-Lewis but Campbell play Abe with a calm cool while Johnson treats Booth as an overacting bad guy who pull everything from an actor’s arsenal short of twirling his mustache (probably because it is not long enough). The film is narrated by Tom Hanks who is show in what looks like an abandon stage set where he occasionally fiddles with plots I am not entirely sure ties in with what he is talking about.

But Killing Lincoln is a profound look at one of the darkest days in our counties history with plenty of new information for anyone who has just read the textbook in history class (like it was actually the Chief Justice who conducted the murder investigation). It is also interesting how they portrayed John Wilkes Booth because I do not think it is a coincidences there are a few monologues that Booth sound exactly like what you would hear from a Tea Party member (and, ironically an O’Reilly viewer) talking today about Barack Obama. Killing Lincoln is certainly worth watching and I have a feeling that O’Reilly’s follow up book, Killing Kennedy, will be on air by next Presidents Day.

Killing Lincoln premieres Sunday at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel. You can also check out the extended trailer below or check out the Interactive Killing Lincoln page.