Saving Lincoln

Saving Lincoln
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Salvador Litvak
Produced by	Reuben Lim Salvador Litvak
Written by	Salvador Litvak Nina Davidovich Litvak
Starring	Tom Amandes Lea Coco Penelope Ann Miller Bruce Davison Creed Bratton Saidah Arrika Ekulona Josh Stamberg Robert Craighead Lew Temple Michael Maize Steven Brand Adam Croasdell
Music by	Mark Adler
Cinematography	Alexandre Naufel
Edited by	Josh Noyes
Release date	February 13, 2013 (2013-02-13)
Country	United States
Language	English

Saving Lincoln is a dramatic biographical film released on February 13, 2013. It tells the little-known story of Ward Hill Lamon, who was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Danville, Illinois, from 1852 until 1857. Lamon accompanied Lincoln to Washington and served as the President's main bodyguard during the Civil War, thwarting several assassination attempts while holding the post of US Marshal. Lincoln and Lamon were close friends. Lincoln sent Lamon to Richmond, Virginia, on Reconstruction business a few days before April 14, 1865, the day that John Wilkes Booth assassinated the President.

The film was shot on a green screen stage, using the CineCollage technique invented by the director Salvador Litvak to create interior and exterior locations. Actors, extras, furniture, and props were filmed and combined with period photographs via the CineCollage process, which relied on off-the-shelf visual effects tools. The end result was a stylized look that works hand-in-hand with the movie's narrative structure, which involves Lamon's personal recollections of his friend. This was the first time such a technique was used to create an entire feature film.

Director Salvador Litvak and his writing partner, Nina Davidovich Litvak, based their screenplay on their extensive research into Lincoln's friendship with Lamon. Saving Lincoln charts their relationship from their initial meeting to Lincoln's Presidency. Lamon was a tall, boisterous Southerner who liked to drink whiskey, tell jokes and stories, play the banjo, and wrestle. Despite some pronounced differences between the two men, they shared a fondness for telling jokes and stories, and both felt slavery should be eliminated. Lamon often served as Lincoln's private confidant.

The movie jumps from their initial meeting to Lincoln's presidency and the repeated attempts that were made on his life. Many well-known incidents are recounted, including the plot to kill Lincoln in Maryland, while he was traveling to Washington, D.C. after his first election – Lamon worked with Allan Pinkerton, who founded the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency, to thwart that plan. Other events include the time a bullet went through Lincoln's hat while he was riding his horse late one evening – he blamed it on a hunter firing an errant shot, but Lamon saw it as a sign that Lincoln was in mortal danger and needed even tighter security. Lamon was said to sometimes sleep by Lincoln's bedroom door, a striking image that appears in the film.