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"Steven Spielberg has revealed the letter in which Daniel Day-Lewis turned down his role in Lincoln.  The director was quoted last month saying that the role of Abraham Lincoln in the biopic &amp;quot;intimidated&amp;quot; Lewis, who initially declined an offer to star in the movie.    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg read Day-Lewis&amp;#039;s rejection letter before presenting him with the &amp;#039;Best Actor&amp;#039; prize at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Monday (January 7). In the letter, Day-Lewis wrote that while he was &amp;quot;fascinated&amp;quot; by the script, &amp;quot;it was the fascination of a grateful spectator who longed to see a story told, rather than that of a participant&amp;quot;. Day-Lewis added: &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s how I feel now in spite of myself, and though I can&amp;#039;t be sure that this won&amp;#039;t change, I couldn&amp;#039;t dream of encouraging you to keep it open on a mere possibility.  &amp;quot;I do hope this makes sense Steven. I&amp;#039;m glad you&amp;#039;re making the film, I wish you the strength for it, and I send both my very best wishes and my sincere gratitude to you for having considered me.&amp;quot; The 55-year-old actor was later convinced into taking the role by his Gangs of New York co-star Leonardo DiCaprio. Watch the trailer for Lincoln below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a449487/steven-spielberg-reveals-daniel-day-lewis-lincoln-rejection-letter/>