For the longest time, Liam Neeson was attached to play Abraham Lincoln in the Steven Spielberg film titled Lincoln. Back in August, however, it was revealed that Neeson had decided to step away from the movie because he felt he was a little too old and that he was “past my sell-by date” for the role. At the time the news was pretty disappointing due to how perfect Neeson felt for the part, but now a new actor has been chosen and he should be considered pretty universally adequate for the job.

According to Deadline, two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis has signed on to play President Lincoln in the movie. Lewis has won Oscars for 1989’s My Left Foot and more recently for his role as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Many believe he was also robbed of the award for his work as Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.

Speaking of Bill the Butcher, though Day-Lewis doesn’t look quite as similar to the President as Neeson does, we know how versatile he is and how well he can adapt to each role. Being one of the closer looking characters he’s played, you can see him as the Butcher above and compare the two.

Spielberg has two movies in War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn coming out next year, and he recently committed to directing an adaptation of the robot uprising story, Robopocalypse, which was thought to be his next project. Now, however, it looks like Lincoln is going to be next.

With their new star signed and sealed, DreamWorks plans to get the movie into production by next fall, with a release hoped for by awards season in 2012. And with the team of Spielberg and Day-Lewis, in the very least there will be plenty of awards nominations to be had.