Casting Abe Lincoln for the Goodwin movie

A Chicago columnist is unhappy that a foreigner, Liam Neeson, is being cast to play Lincoln in Spielberg's adaptation of Doris Kearns Goodwin's forthcoming Lincoln biography. Considering alternatives, "I immediately thought of ... John Malkovich."

A second later, I realized Malkovich would probably play Lincoln as a man teetering on the edge of madness — tormented by the Civil War and his lunatic wife.

"War with the South," Malkovich would mutter. "Yes, I like the idea of going to war. We could kill lots of people." And then his lips would form an odd little smile.

I'd watch that.