Kim Masters has updated her Slate/”Big Money” piece about the fate of Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln project, and she says that “a knowledgable source [informs] that Paramount has passed” on the project.

This is all Spielberg’s fault since he’s the one who’s delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed. A subject of this depth and scope is beyond his abilities and he knows it, which is the deep-down reason why he’s been putting it off, I believe. Spielberg has already blown it by not shooting the film in ’07 or ’08, as releasing a Lincoln biopic right now would be perfect with Obama and the 200th anniversary and all. Later? Not so much.

The best thing that could happen to the Lincoln project would be for Spielberg to walk away and focus on directing and producing CG theme-park movies for the rest of his life — Indy 4, Tintin, Transformers 2, crap like that.