Liam Neeson “is prepping for his role as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s film about the Great Emancipator,” it says in Rush & Molloy’s 12.6 column. “[In so doing] Neeson toured the New York Historical Society’s exhibit ‘New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War’ and attended a lecture by ‘The Gettysburg Gospel’ author Gabor Boritt.”

Good heavens, hold on…Neeson was preparing for the same role when I spoke to him twice about it in August 2005 — 16 friggin’ months ago — and there hasn’t been any announcement since that Spielberg is going to finally commit to making the historical biopic, which will cover Lincoln’s Presidency from his inauguration to assassination. Maybe Neeson knows something we don’t? It would be nice if Spielberg were to finally pull the trigger or at least let someone else step in. Lincoln obviously has the earmarks of a great Neeson role.